PHO to use Dengue Ovitraps
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) is planning to use mosquito ovitraps to eliminate or even just minimize dengue-virus-carrying mosquitos all over the Philippines.
What is an Ovitraps?
An ovitrap is a mimic of a mosquito breeding site. This is usually a dark container with water and a substrate where mosquitos can lay their eggs. Once the eggs are laid, they may grow to a full adult and can be eliminated by humans. Ovitraps are very useful in many ways, especially in minimizing the dengue-carrying mosquitos in malarial zone areas.
Ovitraps as School Requirements
Other parts of the world and even US military uses these traps in the malarial area since ovitraps are now one practical way to limit the population of mosquitos. The Provincial Health Office will be sending out a request to the Department of Education (DepEd) in making ovitraps as part of the requirement for both elementary and secondary schools. It will be one of the requirement aside from the usual general cleaning of the campus.
Gawas sa pag panlimpyo, giapil na nato ang pagbuhat sa ovitrap para sa dengue mosquitoes. Kay ang mosquito makit-an nato, ang dengue dili man (Aside from cleaning, we will include the making of ovitraps. Because we can see the mosquitos but not the dengue virus),” Said Dr. Rene Catan of PHO
Anti-Dengue Vaccines
Aside from the ovitraps, the Provincial Health Office will also be distributing vaccines to the different Rural Health Units (RHU’s) to help prevent the rise of dengue virus. 150,000 kids in Cebu have received their first dose of the vaccines and more are to come.