To further strengthen the prevention of mosquito-carried diseases, the City Health Office will conduct Indoor Residual Spraying in public schools within the three districts of Davao City in preparation for the opening of classes this June.
Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, City Health Officer said that IRS is better than fogging since it would last for up to six months unlike the latter which should be done every seven days.
IRS involves coating the walls and other surfaces of a house with a residual insecticide. For several months, the insecticide will kill mosquitoes and other insects that come in contact with these surfaces.
IRS does not directly prevent people from being bitten by mosquitoes. Rather, it usually kills mosquitoes after they have fed if they come to rest on the sprayed surface. IRS thus prevents transmission of infection to other persons.
“We have already started the IRS last April 26 at five schools in District 2. Some will have the IRS during their Brigada Eskwela,” said Dr. Villafuerte in a press conference on Thursday.
A total of 49 schools have been scheduled to have IRS until May 31.
However, Villafuerte said that IRS is just a measure to prevent dengue. People should practice cleaning their surroundings especially mosquito-breeding sites in order to prevent diseases like dengue and malaria.
Villafuerte also divulged that the cases of dengue from January to March this year have gone down to 462 compared to the first three months of 2016 were there were 1,019 cases of dengue.
