WHO specialists monitor Cabanatuan City’s immunization program

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, July 27 (PNA) -- Two lady specialists from the World Health Organization (WHO) are in this city to assess on the immunization program of the local government here.

Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara said Lauren Stockman and Jennifer Daniel, will look into the health initiatives being implemented by the city government in its 89 barangays, the only areas in Central Luzon chosen by the international body as site for its monitoring job.

Vergara said that the systematic programs of inoculation here could be replicated in different parts of the country.

The mayor vowed to help the WHO monitoring team and other support systems required for the purpose.

Aware of the high infant mortality rate in the country, Vergara even at the start of his past nine-year term in 1998, had maximized the provision of immunization to the infant population.

The two WHO lady specialists said the world health body has taken cognizance of the systematic and doable procedures being undertaken by the City Health Office, under Dr. Gilbert V. Embuscado, in connection with the immunization of children under five years old in the rural areas.

They said WHO is ready to provide technological assistance to the already existing immunization program and the effects of the WHO-provided vaccines being served to the residents in the grassroots level.

The WHO specialists said that their monitoring would involve keeping tabs or minimizing the number of defaulters, or those who missed their scheduled shots, strategizing the application of the immunization program in villages and remote areas, social mobilization, or the gathering of the babies subject, for vaccination, in a specific location or center for easy access of the inoculators. (PNA)
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