Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Friday said he would pitch to Education Secretary Sonny Angara his proposal to promote health literacy among Filipino children to keep them safe from rainy season infections.

During the “Malacañang Insider” program aired over state-run PTV-4, Herbosa stressed the importance of educating children about common illnesses during the rainy season, including leptospirosis and dengue.

“I’ll be going to Secretary Angara and start to talk to him about a convergence of health education or health literacy. It is very important to educate kids not to swim in floodwaters,” Herbosa said. “All floodwaters are dirty and we get many diseases [from them], not only leptospirosis.”

Herbosa said the DOH is monitoring W.I.L.D (water-borne, influenza, leptospirosis and dengue) diseases during rainy days.

He noted a surge in leptospirosis cases after the onslaught of Super Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon.

The DOH on Thursday reported 523 new cases of leptospirosis in its hospitals from Aug. 8 to 13, in addition to the 255 cases recorded nationwide from July 25 to Aug. 7.

The DOH also logged 43 deaths because of leptospirosis in the past three week.

About 81 percent or 423 of individuals with leptospirosis are adults and 19 percent or 100 of them are from the youth age group.

Herbosa emphasized the importance of local governments’ interventions to make people stay at home when there is typhoon or flood.

Herbosa said there is also a need to control rodent population by reducing their access to places that can serve as breeding sites and for a solid waste management before the rainy season. (PNA)