The Davao City Government, in partnership with various stakeholders, conducted a consultative meeting for the expansion of the National Immunization Program activities in private schools and malls for 2025.
Representatives from private schools, malls, public city offices, and private organizations attended the meeting, which also aimed to discuss the importance of the HPV vaccination and vaccine-preventable diseases.
Dr. Elmer Chua, an Ob-Gyne expert, provided inputs on Cervical Cancer and HPV vaccination.
Chua, during his lecture, emphasized that vaccination against HPV is important and that the virus can infect males and females who are sexually active.
“We can have the virus without us knowing it, we can transmit it to our partners, to our kids,” he said.
“Madalas walang nararamdamang sintomas (Most of the time the symptoms cannot be felt),” he said, adding that HPV symptoms include genital warts for men and women, pre-cancerous rashes in the cervical lining and cervical cancer.
Among the burdens caused by HPV are depression, stigma, lost productivity, pain and discomfort, sexual difficulties, negative self-image, financial burden, self-isolation and fear of cancer.
Chua said the successful containment of HPV using the vaccine is scientifically proven and tested in populations outside Philippines.
He said that giving HPV vaccines to 9-14 year olds is found to be more effective compared to vaccinating other age groups.
Meanwhile CHO Technical Division Chief Dr. Julinda K. T. Acosta shed light on the other vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccination activities such as Measles, Rubella, Tetanus, and Diptheria.
Acosta, in an interview, said that they conducted the advocacy and consultative meeting to enable stakeholders to appreciate the vaccines more.
“We are planning to expand our immunization services, especially the school-based immunization sa mga private schools na po, mu-expand napud mi sa private schools kaya we invited them karon, and pakusgan namo ang pagbakuna pinaagi sa pagbakuna sa malls mao nga we also invited the management of the malls in Davao City (We are planning to expand our immunization services, especially the school-based immunization in private schools, we would like to expand that is why we invited them now, and we also want to expand the immunization in malls so we also invited the management of the malls in Davao City),” Acosta said.
She added that they are seeking to establish vaccination sites in malls so that those who missed their doses, or are unable to go to barangay or health centers, can go to malls to have themselves vaccinated.
She said that the vaccination rollout in target areas is still in the planning stage and hopefully will be implemented in 2025. CIO
