Sabah moves to control measles after Philippines outbreak

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Health and People Wellbeing Ministry is working towards getting all children, especially stateless people, to be vaccinated following a measles outbreak in the neighbouring Philippines.

Its minister Datuk Stephen Wong (pic) said measles, which is caused by an airborne virus and is highly contagious, could cause death among small children.

“So far for Sabah, we have yet to see this virus spread, but to prevent it, we need to get children vaccinated, especially the stateless,” he said during the launching of his ministry’s website here on Thursday (Feb 14).

Wong said the mechanisms to get stateless children vaccinated were still being figured out.

At the district levels, he said, health officials had gone to their respective areas and villages to spread the word.

“As of this year, we have recorded two cases of measles, so there is no need to worry for now,” Wong said.

He said in 2018, Sabah recorded 73 cases of measles with one death.

“About 40% of those with measles last year were children between the ages of two and seven, and out of the total number, 15% were vaccinated pior to the catching the virus,” he said.

The districts with the highest number of cases was Kudat, followed by Semporna, Kota Kinabalu and Tawau.

On another matter, Wong said dengue cases were increasing at a worrying rate.

He said this year, the numbers of people with dengue topped 500 so far. Fortunately, no deaths had been recorded.

“Dengue in Sabah is the highest in the country, and at the ministry level, we are aggressively going to the grassroots to create awareness on this Aedes mosquito-borne virus and take preventive measures,” he said.

He said various cleaning or gotong-royong were being held whereas fogging at high risk areas are being conducted.

Wong urged the public to be proactive in keeping their surroundings clean and to rid their areas of mosquito breeding grounds.

Earlier in the event, he said the new Health and Wellbeing ministry website (www.kkkr.sabah.gov.my) would enable better interaction between the public and health officials.