The recent Covid-19 pandemic has imparted important lessons for all agencies concerned with communicable diseases: prevention is still much better than cure.
And the San Pedro City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU)’s role is a vital one in the field of disease prevention and control.
So it was a victory for the San Pedro CESU to officially achieve the “Fully Functional Level” following its successful compliance with the Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Tool (IMET) for City/Municipality Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (ESU) Provincial and Regional Validation held last March 26.
The IMET Validation is conducted to assess and evaluate the functionality of an Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (ESU), ensuring that all required indicators are met which signifies the unit’s operational readiness to effectively carry out disease surveillance, monitoring, and response functions.
Among other criteria, the San Pedro City CESU - and the City Health Office (CHO) in general - were tested not only in ensuring the establishment of the necessary legislation for the creation of the CESU but also in ensuring that it has all the capabilities, equipment and training necessary for tracking and controlling the spread of communicable diseases.
Aside from this, the CESU was also checked in ensuring that Category II Notifiable Diseases, or infectious conditions required by the Department of Health (DOH) to be reported weekly such as dengue and leptospirosis, are reported to national health officials and the public as quickly and as accurately as possible.
In a statement, the San Pedro CHO said the achievement highlights the office’s strong commitment to public health excellence and reinforces the city’s capacity to safeguard the well-being of its constituents through a responsive and efficient health surveillance system.
(Photos courtesy of the San Pedro City Public Affairs and Information Office)
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