MindanaoToday.com | Few schools install nets against dengue
By: Uriel Quilinguing
Roughly 15 percent of the alloted 1,766 rolls of insecticide treated screen (ITS) for Northern Mindanao this school year has been installed in public schools, as of June this year, despite rising dengue cases, a health agency regional official disclosed Friday, July 5.
On Tuesday, July 2, the Department of Health 10 reported a 35-percent increase in the number of dengue cases from January to June this year, compared to the same period last year. Thirty-eight of the 8,485 dengue patients had died, most were five to 10 years old.
Members of this age-group are exposed to dengue infections when classes for school year 2024-2025 begin on July 29, except if classrooms, where learners spend about eight hours a day, are free from Aedes mosquitoes. School clean-up activities dubbed as Brigada Eskwela, this time on July 22-27, happens only once a year before classes officially start.
Better known as Olyset nets, ITS contains an active ingredient of two-percent epithrine, a chemical that can poison and kill mosquitoes–and other insects including flies–aside from blocking entry of these vectors of dengue virus vectors.
Every year, except during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health department would turn over rolls of ITS for schools to install.
This school year, only 256 rolls of ITS have been installed in schools in Northern Mindanao, out of 1,766 total regional allocation, as shown in the list of Insecticide Treated Screen Installations in Schools of DOH-10.
The DOH-10 spent P24.724 million for ITS out of the P90-million for vector control commodities that was downloaded to it from its Central Office. Each roll of locally procured 1.5-meter width by 25-meter length ITS costs P14,000.
Medical doctor Wellaflor Kindom Brito, who heads the DOH-10’s infectious diseases cluster, said: “The installation of Olyset nets is dependent on the approval of the DepEd (officials) and the school staff (principal and classroom teacher),” assuring them the allocation of ITS for local governments are available.
As shown in the DOH-10 list, only four school divisions have fully availed of their ITS allotments: El Salvador 25; Lanao del Norte 18; Ozamiz 5; and Valencia 33.
Bukidnon got three of 310; Camiguin five of 50; Misamis Oriental 92 of 300; Misamis Occidental six of 450; Cagayan de Oro 17 of 100; Iligan eight of 200; Malaybalay 23 of 200; Tangub 5 of 50; and Oroquieta 16 of 100. There are 26 other available rolls of ITS that have not been allocated, each valued at P14 thousand.
Roy Angelo Gazo, Department of Education’s superintendent for Cagayan de Oro division of schools said: “There is no school with operational Olyset nets, these are expensive to maintain,” referring to ITS installed more than five years ago.
At West City Central School (WCCS) in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro, only 10 of the 64 classrooms, occupied by learners in Kindergarten, Grades 1, 2 and 3, have ITS installed more than five years ago. WCCS was among the 12 schools where Olyset net installation was piloted in 2010.
ITS have three-year shelf life but its effectiveness with imbedded mosquito-killing permithrin could last for five years, if properly washed four times in a year with mild soap and air-dried, Brito said.
She said their anti-dengue campaign is still anchored on the 4S which stands for search and destroy, self-protection, seek early consultation and treatment, and support fogging once necessary. Once infected with dengue virus, stay hydrated.
She said they distribute dengue vector control commodities every yeare and these include insecticides and are augmented this time with fogging machines to local health offices. “It all boils down to environmental sanitation. All these will be useless if we don’t clean our environment.”
Once outside the classroom (with ITS), a child is no longer protected from mosquitoes, she pointed out. (MT)
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