Senate Basic Education committee chair Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday urged schools to implement health and safety measures, amid ongoing cases of monkeypox (mpox) in the country.
While the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)said the risk of children and adolescents getting mpox is low, Gatchalian said that schools should help spread awareness and actively promote safety measures, including regular handwashing and the disinfection of classrooms and other spaces.
“We should continuously push for measures to maintain cleanliness and safety in schools, especially now that the virus is here,” he said.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported the first case of mpox on August 18 in the country for this year.
It is the tenth laboratory-confirmed mpox in the country since last year.
According to the DOH, the latest case involves a 33-year-old male Filipino national with no travel history outside the Philippines.
The World Health Organization recently declared the mpox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
The DOH, however, emphasized that all previous cases were isolated, cared for, and have since recovered.
Gatchalian meanwhile is also pushing for the passage of the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control Act (Senate Bill No. 1869), a bill he co-authored.
The proposed measure seeks to create the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which will serve as the technical authority on forecasting, analysis, strategy, and standards development for the prevention and control of all diseases of public health importance and health security events.
