One with Allied Against Dengue Movement
My son’s first Dengue episode happened in 2011. It was a good thing that we were able to detect at its onset through NS1 test. Diagnosis was done early on without his platelets yet going haywire. Early detection made a whole difference!
It was July of 2015 when my son was again diagnosed with Dengue fever. Because of his trauma to I.V. insertion during his previous hospitalization, he got us convinced to monitor his platelets everyday as soon as he was tested positive via NS1. His platelets dipped a bit below normal but we did the Pawpaw Leaf Juice treatment as soon as we found out. It was the weekend before Jed got sick when I almost jumped with glee when I saw that the Papaya tree I was religiously watering has grown leaves! Little did I know that it was going to be God’s provision to help my son fight to keep his platelet levels back to normalcy later that week.
Because I wasn’t about to just succumb to my son’s request when it’s his health that’s at risk, I did my own research and found a lot of articles backing Papaya leaf extract as a natural cure to Dengue hemmorhagic fever. One of which is that of U.S. National Library of Medicine (National Insitute of Health)’s study on Dengue treatment with Papaya leaves extract. My husband and I agreed that if platelet dives even just a little below his first test result, then that’s it – we’ll have our little guy admitted. 
I may be criticized of my being a “Doctor Mom” but I’ve always been intentional in every aspect of motherhood. While this doesn’t mean in any way that I don’t trust doctors, but I’m more at peace when I’m in the know before I get down on doing anything at all, motherhood related or otherwise.
Solving Dengue Fever was also one of the websites that I found very informative.
The taste of the Papaya leaves extract was crazy bitter, we did gag once or twice when we took shots. Yes, “we.” In my effort to empathize with our son, I was led to take shots as well to make sure he knows he’s not alone in this. Although he dreaded every shot, he dreaded I.V. insertion more. A case of lesser evil.
During my son’s Dengue fever episode, he took a shot of Papaya leaves extract three times a day and Calpol to manage his fever. The day after my son started to takethe Papaya leaf extract, his platelets improved. We carried on until he was fever free and daily checked his platelets on out-patient lab work until he was completely well. It was a 5 day ordeal, the last 3 days of which included daily hospital visits for blood extraction. Not very convenient routine but we’re grateful that this worked for us.
Going through our Dengue ordeal was rough and stressful. This is why when I was invited recently to cover the Allied Against Dengue Philippines launch, I knew I just had to go. I strongly believe that Dengue awareness is of utmost importance especially so that this disease is prevalent in Southeast Asia and in the Philippines. In our household alone, we we struck twice in the last 4 years.
In 2015 alone, there were reported 200,415 cases of Dengue fever. Because of this the Allied Against Dengue Movement was purposed to lead a change and create a bigger impact through collaborative partnerships, healthcare providers, industry and community empowerment and a holistic public education approach that combines prevention with management.
Member of Allied Against Dengue Movement:
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Department of Health (DOH)
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Philippine Pharmacists Association, Inc. (PPHA)
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GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Philippines, Inc.
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Mercury Drug Corporation (MDC)
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SmartParenting.com.ph
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CNN Philippines
Allied Against Dengue Movement is focused on empowerment as it champions health campaigns that will combine preventive and control measures with awareness of dengue fever management.
Through our family’s episodes with Dengue fever, we’ve learned that it is possible to acquire it more than once since it is caused by four (4) different strains. My son is done with 2 and I’m definitely not aiming for him to have the rest of the strains to get him to be fully Dengue fever immunized. I have also realized that it takes for the whole community to be educated on Dengue prevention. Because no matter how much we take care of our home and its surroundings, we have little to no control on what goes on in places that we visit that might be infested with Dengue-carrying mosquitoes. I’ve also been vigilant about getting my son citronella sprayed to ward off insects but then again, we can only do so much. Even in my vigilance, for some reason, Dengue managed to seep right through.
Allied Against Dengue strategy includes:
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Distribution of 50,000 DOH primers to at least 5 public schools in Dengue hotspots in Metro Manila
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Distribution of 15,000 leaflets to 1,000 pediatricians and general practitioners.
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Education of proper Dengue fever prevention and management to 20 health centers for Barangay outreach programs.
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Implementation of Continues Pharmacy Education (CPE) Program in indentified chapters, targeting 200 pharmacists.
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Education and recruitment of at least 1,000 Allies Against Dengue through employee engagment, online and on ground activations.
To make sure these milestones are achieved, Allied Against Dengue is rolling out initiative that includes train-the-trainer programs, organized information centers through partner networks, community education activations and employee volunteers.
We totally support Allied Against Dengue. You should too! For further information on Allied Against Dengue, contact 1800-8908-8275 or email ph.customer-relations@gsk.com,
