The Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa emphasized the importance of solid waste management as a way to combat the rising cases of leptospirosis in the country.
In an episode of Malacañang Insider on Friday, Secretary Herbosa identified the surge of leptospirosis cases as the result of poor waster management in communities. They mentioned how people were suffering from the severe effects of the said disease because of swimming in flood waters.
To prevent the incident from repeating, Secretary Herbosa outlined his suggestions, mentioning the importance of health literacy among students. The suggestion was made after he saw kids on live television swimming and splashing around in flood waters.
“Swimming in flood waters is like swimming in the sewers because it is dirty water. All flood waters are dirty; and you get many diseases not only leptospirosis but (also) skin diseases, other diseases from your eyes; when you swallow the water that’s also dirty,” he stressed.
According to Secretary Herbosa, when piles of garbage are seen on every corner, rodents populate the areas, escalating leptospirosis cases. During the onset of Typhoon Carina, several barangays suffered from severe flooding due to clogged drainage systems and the transported trash on the streets.
“When solid waste management is poor, the rodent population increases. When the rodent population increases, leptospirosis cases will also increase. If we control the rodents, we should be able to control this as a public health endeavor,” DOH Secretary Herbosa emphasized.
He added that the health crisis is a collective effort between agencies, as several factors contributed to its sudden rise. With that, he will be coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd) on health literacy and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to implement proper waste disposal.
“We are a city below sea level so it’s always flooded, but if we keep our solid waste management and rodent population low, we shouldn't be having this upsurge of leptospirosis cases a week after—two weeks after floods,” he ended.
