Disease prevention be taught in school

Wednesday, 13 July 2011 01:51

Prevention and treatment of diseases like dengue, malaria and AH1N1 will soon be taught in schools.

Rep. Carlo Lopez (2nd District, Manila), author of House Bill 4544, said the students who are one of the most vulnerable sectors that can catch the dreaded diseases should learn how to prevent and treat such illnesses. "The students can also help in the government health campaign against dengue, foot and mouth disease, AHINI, malaria, scarlet fever, and others. The students can share with other people in their communities what they learn in schools," Lopez said.

Under the bill, private and public schools are mandated to include in their curriculum a subject on the prevention and control of such diseases.

Lopez said the bill will require schools to integrate subjects on disease prevention and control in their intermediate and secondary curricula. Likewise, the subjects will also be taught in the non-formal, informal and indigenous learning systems in many parts of the country.

"The best way to prevent sickness is for us to be educated on how to avoid them. Safety measures must be taken twenty four hours a day to protect the people against life-threatening mosquito bites and other diseases," Lopez said.

Lopez said among the high risk major infectious diseases in the country are food or waterborne diseases such as bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever.

Lopez said the vector-borne diseases include dengue fever, malaria and Japanese encephalitis and water contact disease called leptospirosis.

"With the open inter-country migration, new and deadly diseases are easily transmitted into the country, such as E. Coli, foot-and-mouth diseases, avian influenza, scarlet fever and swine flu," Lopez said.

"Many of the diseases that we contract in life can be avoided if we are adequately educated on how to prevent them and protect ourselves from the causes of these diseases," Lopez added.

The bill mandates the Department of Education (DepEd), in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH), to promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of the proposed act.

Under the bill, the DepEd may enlist the assistance of any government agency or instrumentality, the media, as well as non-government organizations to carry out the objectives of the measure.

The bill provides further that all instructional materials needed by the public schools to teach the subject matter shall be supplied by the DepEd.