Marawi’s displaced persons safe vs polio virus – DoH-10

MARAWI CITY: The Department of Health- Region 10 satellite operations center in Marawi City has announced that internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently sheltered in transitory houses and evacuation centers are safe against polio virus.

The displacement resulted from a siege from May to October 2018 of Marawi by the terrorist Maute group affiliated with the Islamic State.

Dr. Irmalyn Lucman, DoH-10 Marawi center physician, said the displaced residents have been free from polio since the outbreak declared in September.

“As of now, we have not encountered any polio cases in evacuation centers and transitory sites here in Marawi,” according to Lucman.

“We are having a massive polio immunization within the communities,” she said.

Lucman added that the health sector in Marawi provides doortodoor polio vaccinations in several transitory and evacuation sites in the city.

She said the Health department is closely monitoring polio cases among the IDPs, considering one of the three confirmed cases of polio in the country is from Marogong town near Marawi City.

Lucman said all IDP children are protected from all vaccine-preventable diseases.

“Along with polio vaccination, we are conducting house-to-house visitation and orienting IPD parents about the symptoms of poliovirus” she added.

Lucman assured the Marawi residents of DoH assistance, such as holding medical consultations, providing medicines, extending parental and post-partum care, giving nutritional supplements and free immunizations, and conducting stress-debriefing-interventions and play and dance therapy to the IDP children.

Also, the DoH Marawi Operations center has been visiting several transitional sites inside and outside Marawi City to provide health education, thereby raising the IDPs’ level of awareness on the importance of a healthy diet to protect them against under-nutrition or over-nutrition, as well as non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular ailments and certain types of of cancer, Lucman said.