No Deployment Ban on OFWs Going to Zika-Hit Areas
MANILA: Despite the rapid spread of the virus blamed for brain damage in babies, the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Brazil and 27 other Latin American countries affected by the mosquito-borne Zika virus continues.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz was quoted as saying by Inquirer that the deployment had not been suspended in the absence of alert levels issued by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“(N)o alert levels have been issued by the DOH and DFA,” Baldoz reportedly said in a text message. “So there’s no deployment ban to those countries, as of today.”
But the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) head said both the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, both DOLE-attached agencies, had included the Zika virus in their predeparture seminars for Filipino migrant workers, the report said.
In the seminars, OFWs are provided with information such as employment concerns, travel regulations, immigration procedures and cultural differences between the Philippines and migrant workers’ host countries, it added.
South America accounted for just 2,832 OFWs in 2013 of the more 10 million Filipinos working and living overseas, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier declared a global emergency over the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America and its suspected link to the surge of babies born with microcephaly, a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development and abnormally small heads.
WHO estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas by next year.
The DOH has advised pregnant women to avoid visiting places where there had been reported cases of the disease.
“The Zika virus per se is not alarming to the patient. What is alarming is the possible effects to the fetus during the first three months of pregnancy,” Health Secretary Janette Garin was quoted as saying.
Garin reportedly said the government remained vigilant against the disease since the mosquito carrying the virus was present in the Philippines.
In Washington, the Philippine Embassy on Thursday issued an advisory, urging members of the Filipino-American community in the United States to take caution against the Zika virus, the report pointed out.
“Members of the Filipino-American community are further advised to learn more about the Zika virus disease—its cause, symptoms, methods of transmission, preventive measures and confirmed cases—by visiting the websites of the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” the Philippine Embassy reportedly said in an advisory posted on its website.
The Philippine government, through the DOH, earlier advised its citizens to remember and use ‘4S’ against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases.
The 4S means “Search & destroy mosquito-breeding places, use Self-protection measures, Seek early consultation for fever lasting more than two days and Say ‘yes’ to fogging when there is an impending outbreak,” reported Inquirer.