The Ministry of Public Health is now on alert for a possible outbreak of communicable diseases in drought-hit areas, where a supply of clean water may be lacking.
It has assigned officials and volunteers to promote the practice of eating only cooked food, using serving spoons and washing hands, as well as advising villagers to seek medical assistance should they have diarrhea.
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has instructed 12 disease prevention and control centers nationwide to be on alert and to cooperate with local public health offices in order to respond quickly to any outbreak of disease connected to the drought.
According to the Bureau of Epidemiology’s report, there have been, since early this year, 575,112 cases of diarrhea, 59,360 cases of food poisoning, 432 cases of dysentery, 9 cases of cholera, 560 cases of typhoid fever and 224 cases of hepatitis A.
