Doctors from the Department of Health Region 7 are investigating the upsurge of typhoid fever cases that started two weeks ago in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Board member Liland Estacion, chair of the Committee on Health, said 34 patients are being treated in various hospitals, aside from unaccounted others who opted to seek treatment in private clinics and those who preferred herbal medicines.

The investigation will determine the cause of the typhoid fever epidemic in the city and the immediate course of action to be undertaken, Estacion said.

Initial investigation showed unsanitary sources of drinking water, like shallow wells, may have caused the outbreak.

Estacion, who is a doctor by profession, emphasized the importance of strengthening the preventive rather than spending so much on the curative aspect.

Meanwhile, the United States Agency for International Development, in partnership with the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines and the provincial government of Negros Oriental formalized an agreement strengthening the maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition service delivery network for improve health outcomes in the province.

The ceremonial signing and acceptance of the memorandum of agreement between Gov. Roel Degamo and Corazon Paras, president of the Midwives Association in Region 7, was witnessed by health officials in Region 7 and the province, headed by doctors Asuncion Anden, Edgardo Barredo, Feliz Sy and provincial health officer Dante Domingo, at Bethel Guesthouse in Dumaguete City, yesterday.

Paras said the one-and-a-year project involves the establishment of lying-in clinics in the province, and the holding of trainings and seminars for midwives, with about 1,500 registered in Central Visayas.

Four lying-in clinics have been established in Dumaguete, three in Sta. Catalina, and in Manjuyod, Bindoy and Bais. She said part of the P5 million grant from USAID will also be used for trainings and seminars, including the purchase of equipment.

Anden said midwives are the foot soldiers of the health system, being frontrunners in the delivery of basic health services, especially in far-flung areas. She added there is need for midwives to be well trained and for the government to do its best to improve health facilities and services .*JG

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