PopCom-9 introduces Demographic

Tool to assess spread of diseases

By Rene V. Carbayas

ISABELA CITY, (PIA) – The Population Commission-Region IX has introduced and encouraged local government units and government agencies to use the Demographic Vulnerability Tools (DVT) in assessing the geographic spread of diseases.

During the recent orientation on the said tools in Isabela City, POPCOM9 Regional Director Reynaldo Wong pointed out that during pandemics, geographic spread is a vital factor in identifying the most effective health interventions to mitigate disease outcomes.

“Spatial characteristics such as population distribution, density and living arrangement of the population are important in assessing geographic spread of the disease. Demographic characteristics such as sex and age composition of the population at risk play an important role in determining the pattern of epidemic spread,” he said.

He stressed that this new tool provides the demographic characteristics of  population that may cause or enhance the exposure or possibility of individuals and segment of population to be infected with communicable disease.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, PopCom is confident that this new tool will greatly help local government units and government agencies to appropriately respond and help the most venerable sector and community in their respective localities, thus help in managing the meager resources, especially that of the LGUs.

DVT also gives attention to the type of house and floor area of household dwelling as important element in determining the vulnerabilities of the members of the households especially when social and physical distancing is very much encouraged even inside the house to curb the spread of COVID-19.

PopCom data showed that certain densely populated barangays in the city with a number of housing unit density that is less than 20 square meter are highly vulnerable and susceptible to disease contamination. However, PopCom encouraged the city to validate the projected data presented and for the barangays to adopt the tools as baseline for planning and services.

“Without the vaccine, we are not certain as to when this pandemic will last. However, with this data from the DVT, the barangays at micro level can immediately act and LGUs can prioritize services,” Wong said.

Wong puts high regard on the DVT as this will also help LGUs respond quickly to the needs of vulnerable sectors, like the senior citizens, people with disabilities (PWD), and infants, among others.

As the first LGU to be oriented on the said tool in Zamboanga Peninsula, City Population Officer Jesielyn Puno expressed gratitude on behalf of the city government of Isabela for the confidence that PopCom-9 is giving to the city.

Meanwhile, City Information Officer Menry Lim appreciated the value of the tool in their ongoing data gathering per household to update the barangay profiles. She said that the challenge is on the encoding of the voluminous data and hope to complete them the soonest possible time. (NBE/RVC/PIA9-Basilan)