- WITH the country’s first confirmed influenza A (H1N1) case, the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) in Northern Mindanao is preparing to draw up contingency measures should the more virulent Avian Flu (H5N1) enters the country.
Regional Director Carmelito Lupo of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-Northern Mindanao told local media Saturday that his office does not want to be caught flat-footed if ever H5N1 comes into the region.
“Our country has now activated its national preparedness plan for the H5N1 flu which experts say is more virulent than the A (H1N1), hence, the workshop is very important to assure the stakeholders and the general public that the government is seriously undertaking (mitigating) measures against the virus,” Lupo said.
OCD Information Officer Ana Cañeda said the formulation of a contingency plan aims to cope with this likely emergency, which is considered very timely and appropriate, in the spate of reports that an H1N1 infection has recently been monitored on a 10-year-old girl in the country.
Among others, the activity aims to observe the interagency/multi-sectoral coordination in response to the A1 emergency for maximum and judicious utilization of resources and to maximize use of available resources, such as five percent calamity fund, experts, and hospital facilities, among others.
It also aims to undertake proactive approach to the A1 hazard through continuous monitoring and surveillance of the environment and community empowerment for effective response to this hazard, and to ensure the effective, fast and fair delivery of basic human services to victims needing immediate assistance during an A1 incursion.
Highly communicable
Department of Health’s (DOH)-Northern Mindanao Chief Epidemiologist Dr. David Mendoza, during DOH’s weekly media briefing last Friday, bared that compared to H1N1, which has a high survival rate, H5N1 has a high mortality rate.
“Taas ang survival rate sa H1N1. Its mortality rate is only less than one percent as compared to H5N1, which has a mortality rate of 60 percent,” Mendoza said.
“Kun matakdan ka sa H5N1 virus, kun dili ka matambalan dayon, sigurado gyud kang mamatay,” he added.
Avian flu is a highly virulent disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only the birds and less commonly, pigs. And while all bird species are susceptible to the infection, domestic poultry flocks are especially vulnerable that can rapidly reach epidemic proportions.
On the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website, it was reported that the group has been closely monitoring the H5N1 situation in Egypt where 27 of the 74 confirmed cases have been fatal.
The three-day contingency planning workshop, according to Lupo -- who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of RDCC in the region -- would include topics on the different stages of H5N1, particularly on stages one and two, on the “animal side” and stages three and four, on the “human side,” H5N1 risk identification and assessment, hazard analysis, resource inventory and gaps reduction.
The workshop is sponsored by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in cooperation with the Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) in Northern Mindanao.
It would be attended by members of the provincial disaster coordinating councils (PDCCs) of Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental and members of the city disaster coordinating councils (CDCCs) of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, with cluster lead agencies of RDCC. (With reports from PIA)
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