by Paolo Mendoza, Romblon News/PR-DOH | Wednesday, 09 March 2016
Department of Health (DOH) – MIMAROPA (Oriental/Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) recently concluded a week long urine testing activity in the whole province of Marinduque from February 29 to March 4, 2016 as part of its effort in preventing kidney ailments in grade school children in the region.
A total of 12,945 elementary grade school children were screened from the five municipalities namely Sta. Cruz with 2692; Buenavista – 2630; Gasan – 2592; Mogpog – 2518; and Torrijos with 2513.
The region has also screened a total of 401 grade school students in Romblon, 600 in Occidental Mindoro and 400 in Palawan.
Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo emphasized that they will target all grade school children in the region by the end of the year. “We will provide community teams to go to remote island areas to reach the target children for urine screening.
Kidney diseases remains the 7th leading cause of death in the country. One Filipino develops chronic renal failure every hour, or about 120 Filipinos per million people per year.
The dipstick method is used to rapidly identify renal or urinary tract diseases among children and prevent the progression of chronic renal failure.
According to Janairo, Urine testing is the simplest, safest and inexpensive way to evaluate and detect serious renal diseases that may be present in the body. “The results of the urine dipstick test can be available right away and may point to diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI), kidney disease, diabetes, or a urinary tract injury.”
He added that if there are abnormalities found during the test, further urine tests will be provided before a definite diagnosis can be concluded. Children with abnormal urinary findings in the second screening will be provided medical assistance immediately.
“I enjoin parents and caregivers of grade school children to keep their children’s kidneys strong and healthy by submitting them to a urine testing yearly in order to detect and prevent the onset of illness.” Janairo urged.
