Skip to main content

US, PH launch BIDA KID campaign in Visayas

 

U.S. Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) ad interim Heather Variava joins Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama at the launch of the BIDA KID COVID-19 prevention campaign in the Visayas. 

Cebu City, March 10, 2022—On March 8, U.S. Embassy in the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) ad interim Heather Variava joined Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama and representatives from the Department of Health and Department of Education to launch the BIDA KID COVID-19 prevention campaign in the Visayas. 

 

The BIDA KID campaign reminds everyone to continue observing COVID-19 prevention measures as children return to school and people resume in-person activities.  The campaign is a follow-up to the BIDA Solusyon (Be the Solution) COVID-19 prevention multimedia campaign, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which reminds everyone to continue practicing key COVID-19 preventive behaviors. 

 

The U.S. government and Cebu City government also celebrated Cebu City’s milestone of vaccinating 92 percent of its eligible adult population.  With USAID support, the city is advancing efforts to reach a similar goal for children aged 5 to 11. 

 

“We are very pleased to see the fruits of our partnership with your city, and we look forward to forging on together as we build back better,” said CDA Variava.  “We remain committed as enduring friends, partners, and allies to work with you all so we can finally put an end to this pandemic.” 

 

In her first visit to Cebu, CDA Variava met with university, business, and government leaders to discuss opportunities to strengthen and deepen U.S.-Philippine partnerships.  She also participated in an International Women’s Day program at the American Corner of Cebu. 

 

CDA Variava also visited a USAID-supported pediatric vaccination site at Cebu City’s Ayala Center mall and received a plaque of appreciation from Mayor Rama for the U.S. government’s support in mitigating COVID-19 community outbreaks and enhancing the city’s vaccine rollout, including for children aged 5 to 11. 

 

“With more than 90 percent of our city’s target population fully vaccinated, we celebrate the near total defeat of COVID-19 in Cebu City.  In this, we are truly and deeply grateful to USAID for being a major force that made this achievement possible,” said Mayor Rama. 

 

Assisting the Philippines in its COVID-19 response has been a top U.S. government priority since the outbreak began.  To date, the United States has provided more than Php1.9 billion ($39 million) to support the country’s COVID-19 response and accelerate vaccination for priority populations.  The United States has also donated more than 33 million doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility. 

 

USAID has supported Cebu City’s COVID-19 response by training nearly 200 barangay health emergency teams; reaching more than 1 million people with various prevention, detection, isolation, treatment, reintegration, and vaccination messages; enhancing 14 community isolation units that served more than 10,000 individuals at the peak of the pandemic; and helping establish nearly 100 vaccination sites.  These interventions have helped Cebu City manage the more than 53,000 cases recorded since March 2020. 

 

For the past 60 years, USAID has worked with the Philippine government and local organizations to achieve shared development goals, investing more than $5.1 billion (Php247.5 billion) to support the Philippines. (PR)


CDA Heather Variava participates in an International Women’s Day program at the American Corner of Cebu. (Information Office, Public Affairs Section U.S. Embassy in the Philippines)


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OCD-7: ‘Only OCD can hold incident command system trainings’

  OCD-7 Regional Director Joel Erestain speaking during the 13th episode of the ‘Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas’ program held in Cebu City. He emphasized that only OCD is accredited to conduct trainings on Incident Command System. (PIA-7)  CEBU CITY, CEBU (PIA) — Only the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) can conduct training on the Incident Command System (ICS). This was emphasized by OCD-7 regional director Joel Erestain during the 13th episode of the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on Aug. 20 in Cebu City.  As the executive arm of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), OCD conducts ICS trainings, which is a standardized approach to managing emergency responses and disasters. “So kung mayro’ng mga iba na nagsasabi na nagte-train daw, hindi po sila accredited. Lalong lalo na nagkaroon tayo ng Civil Defense Training Institute, walang ibang pwedeng mag-train ng ICS, basic ICS, hanggang sa down the line,” said Erestain.  (So if there are people ...
Post a Comment
Read more

PRESS RELEASE: Smart’s ‘School-in-a-Bag’ reaches last-mile schools in NegOr

  DepEd Secretary hails education as 'solution' More remote schools have been reached by Smart Communications, Inc.’s mini portable classroom School-in-a-Bag, bringing learning technologies to far-flung areas to help facilitate quality basic education in last-mile schools. Among these schools is Dobdob Elementary School (ES) which is situated in the farthest barangay in Valencia, Negros Oriental. It is 80 kilometers from the town proper and is only accessible by 4-wheel drive vehicles. Dobdob ES has a total of 128 students, most of whom are children of farmers. These students often arrive with their shirts drenched in sweat, because they help their parents on the farm before coming to school. But despite that, they still come to class with great vigor and enthusiasm. Leah Apenas, head teacher of Dobdob ES, shared the different struggles she and her colleagues, most especially the students face in the mountain school. “Every time there’s a heavy downpour, students skip classes d...
Post a Comment
Read more

PVAO to partner with hospitals for improved medical care access of veterans

  PVAO Field Satellite Office (FSO) Cebu Head Reggie Sabandal enables the public to envision the goal of the agency to facilitate a no medical expense for the veterans during the 13th Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas. (PIA 7) CEBU CITY, Cebu (PIA) — The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) Field Services Office (FSO) Cebu is set to partner with two hospitals in Central Visayas for improved access to medical services of the Filipino veterans in the region.  PVAO Cebu is set to ink a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City, Cebu and Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Medical Center (GCGMMC) in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.  PVAO FSO Cebu head Reggie Sabandal said this is in line with their agency’s aim to establish additional 19 veterans’ wards in the country.  "We also did our part in (terms of) lobbying for the MOA with respective private and public hospitals for the enhancement of veterans’ wards... Our vision and goal i...
Post a Comment
Read more