MARAWI
CITY, Lanao del Sur, Oct. 29 (PIA) --- The Department of Health (DOH) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) was named as this year’s best performer in the anti-measles and
anti-polio mass vaccination campaign throughout the country.
The region’s
Provincial Health Offices accomplished 102 percent in their anti-measles and
101 percent in anti-polio immunization campaign.
In data released by the
DOH-ARMM as of October 13 this year, 408,746 target infants and children were
administered the anti-measles vaccines and 469,660 for anti-polio.
The DOH
established the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in 1976 to further
strengthen the immunization program as mandated under Republic Act 10152
(Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011), which
requires all children under five years old to be given the basic immunization.
“Ligtas
sa Tigdas at Polio,” a month-long nationwide immunization campaign every
September, aims to halt the growing cases of measles and make the
Philippines a polio-free country.
It also aims to protect about 13 million
Filipino new-born and five-year old children against measles and rubella and 11
million against polio.
Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, DOH-ARMM secretary, said that
among the provinces in the region, Lanao del Sur got the highest percentage
performance in both measles and rubella at 118 percent and oral polio
vaccination at 117 percent.
Even after the month-long campaign, Dr. Sinolinding
said the DOH-ARMM in conduit with local government units will continue its
effort to make the region measles and polio-free.
To ascertain that the
vaccination drive reaches the target clientele, the health units adopted
the door-to-door strategy where the service providers and workers visited
the households in coordination with the local government units, non-government
organizations, barangay officials, and other health stakeholders.
“Children who
did not receive the supplemental dose of measles and polio vaccine can still go
to the health centers for the vaccination” said Dr. Sinolinding.
This year,
about 2,000 midwives and nurses have been employed to help the health workers
in administering immunization to almost one million babies and children across
the region. (Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/PIA-10)
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