MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) is now preparing early for the expected arrival of El Niño which may again cause different types of diseases or outbreaks in different parts of the country.
An “El Niño Summit” was recently conducted by the DOH where their Medical Center Chiefs, Chiefs of Hospitals, Regional Directors and Assistant Regional Directors, and central office Bureau Directors, and Executive Committee members met.
The DOH wants to harmonize the respective national and local strategies and action plans to reduce the negative impact of El Niño.
The Department of Science and Technology-PAGASA presented the current status of El Niño using the 2024 Heat Map.
The experts also discussed the diseases that can be caused by the extreme heat and the scenarios that will occur when there is a shortage of water, energy, food and the spread of diseases that hospitals may face.
El Niño and the opposite La Niña are recurring “climate patterns” that scientists call the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
In their forecast, ENSO continues to worsen and has increased by 10% since 1960 due to the observed increase in “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere.