Measles outbreak in BARMM contained, vaccination campaign on
HEALTH • 20:00 PM Tue Jul 2, 2024
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By:
John Felix Unson
Shahana Joy Duerme, Manager of the PIA-12 and Bangsamoro Health Minister Kadil Monera Sinolinding, Jr. together talked about health issues and concerns in the autonomous region during Tuesday's forum in Cotabato City
COTABATO CITY - The recent measles outbreak in the Bangsamoro region that affected almost 700 children had been addressed and the regional government’s vaccination campaign remained to prevent its repeat, a senior health official said.
Three children perished in the measles outbreak in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from March to April this year.
BARMM's health minister, the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Monera Sinolinding, Jr., told reporters, in a forum here on Tuesday morning organized by the Philippine Information Agency-12, that the outbreak declaration had been lifted several weeks ago.
“Even so, our vaccination efforts are still on as a mitigation measure,” Sinolinding, designated health minister by BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim just last May, said.
Sinolinding said that they have also facilitated the release in recent weeks to health workers in BARMM’s six provinces and three cities their overdue Health Emergency Allowance, or HEA, from the national government as a special incentive for their involvement in programs protecting the local communities from Covid 19 infection during the height of the pandemic that lasted for more than two years.
"That, we did in the most transparent manner," Sinolinding said.
BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato.
Tuesday's PIA-initiated forum at a local function facility was hosted by Shahana Joy Duerme Mangasar, the agency's information center manager for Cotabato province.