History of MDFA:
- In 2010, Dr. Cincin Young, a long-term Sahaya supporter and resident of Davis, California, started and registered the non-profit, non-government organization, the Mosquito-Dengue Fighters Association (MDFA) in the Philippines (SEC No. CN201030349).
- The co-founders are Dr. Meneleo Navarro and Dr. Dulce Dawang, currently the MDFA Treasurer.
The mission of MDFA:
The main purpose of the organization is dengue prevention through mosquito control. What is dengue? Dengue is the second deadliest mosquito-borne disease in the world, next only to malaria. It infects 50 million people each year with over 15,000 deaths. In the Philippines, it is the deadliest mosquito-borne disease. In 2010, dengue cases reached 135,000 counts with around 800 deaths. Dengue is the most feared among clinical conditions in children; and everyone knows someone who had been a victim of dengue. In some areas, dengue has become an epidemic and relying on the government action alone is not enough to prevent thousands of Filipinos from being infected and causing death in hundreds of children and young adults. Dengue is caused by a virus (Flavivirus) that is spread by the Aedes mosquitoes. It is also called “breakbone disease” because of the extreme pain in the joints that the victims suffer during illness. It can cause dengue hemorrhagic fever that can result in death due to internal or external bleeding or both. It can also culminate in dengue shock syndrome that invariably results in death mostly in children and young adults. Most children with dengue are hospitalized, but this is expensive and those parents who cannot afford simply suffer for their loss. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for dengue patients. However, dengue is a preventable disease.
What does MDFA do?
- We, members of MDFA, feel the need and urgency to fight dengue through mosquito control.
- Our organization is a small group of people operating on a nonexistent budget who believe that we can make a difference.
- Our current and planned activities are:
- Educational programs for school children, high school and college students, and the communities to raise awareness by providing dengue-prevention presentations to various schools, colleges, universities, health offices in cities and suburban areas. Many schools have requested for these presentations, but we have limited manpower and resources to fulfill all the requests.
- Distribution of flyers, putting up billboards, and radio broadcast on how the public can help in dengue-prevention. We are using our own funds to make copies of flyers and brochures, but do not have enough funds for billboards and posters.
- Mobilizing community heads and home owners associations to organize groups for the clean-up of sewage canals and their surroundings. Last December, Mr. Danilo Gualberto, a Biology instructor from Xavier University, was sent to Singapore for a 3-day training on Dengue Mosquito Control and Surveillance. His air fare was provided by our co-founder and president Dr. Navarro, and his stipend was provided by Xavier University as facilitated by Dr. Dawang, our co-founder and treasurer, and also the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. Mr. Gualberto is now preparing a plan (based on his training) that will involve the community heads.
- House-to-house campaign that involves educating the residents as well as checking and cleaning the surroundings for mosquito breeding grounds. This is a successful operation, but is being done only in few chapters due to lack of manpower and resources.
- Water treatment with Bti in water reservoirs and ponds. Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis isralensis) is a naturally-occurring soil bacterium that attacks the gut lining of the mosquito larvae and is nontoxic to the environments, to human, mammals, fish, birds and most other species. Bti products are not available in the Philippines. Last year, Cincin Young used personal funds to purchase $600 worth of Bti products from the U.S. and sent them to the Philippines. We used these to treat stagnant waters in schools, parks, sewage canals, and other private and public areas.
- Stocking of fish species that will feed on mosquito larvae in ponds and sewage canals to reduce the mosquito populations. This is still a planned activity because of lack of funding.
- Stocking of the copepod Mesocyclops in stagnant ponds and water reservoirs. Mesocyclops are very tiny copepods that occur naturally in some ponds and can eat tiny mosquito larvae and reduce the mosquito populations. This has been very successful in Vietnam and we intend to make this work in the Philippines. However, made several surveys but could not find the right Mesocyclops species. Furthermore, the lack of manpower and resources is hindering our efforts.
- Pushing for the formation of a mosquito control commission in the Philippines. Our president, Dr. Navarro, is making efforts in discussing with Philippine government officials about the need for a mosquito control commission.
Our latest annual reports:
- Annual report 2014
- Annual report 2015
- Annual report 2016
- Annual report 2017
- Annual report 2018
- Activities Report 2019
- Activities Report 2023
We can use your help!
- We are operating with basically no funding and we use our own personal savings for copying flyers and brochures, flipcharts, for travel to suburban areas, and purchase of Bti products. We have exhausted our personal funds for these and will highly appreciate any assistance.
- We have developed a PowerPoint presentation for effective dengue-prevention campaign. However, in many public schools and community offices, they do not have laptop, LCD projector and sound system. Only one chapter head owns a laptop and LCD projector purchased with personal funds and the rest can only afford flipcharts. These flipcharts are not very efficient because we can only have a limited number of people in a group for effective presentation. With external funding we can purchase equipment for efficient and effective dengue-prevention campaign.
- We also need funding for a study on species of fish that can be used for mosquito control. Dr. Jaime Mabasa, the director of the Department of Health in Iloilo, reported that they found a species of fish locally known as “butod-butod” which is a relative of the mosquitofish Gambusia affinis that might be used for mosquito control. The Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC – AQD) located in Iloilo is willing to provide their facilities for this study.
- If you live in the USA, you can make tax-deductible donations via Sahaya International. A tax receipt will be provided. Mail a check, made payable to Sahaya International (with mention: MDFA) to:
Sahaya International, Inc.
c/o Koen Van Rompay
1504 Portola Street
Davis, CA 95616
- Or if you like to donate by credit card, go to www.sahaya.org/donate, and indicate that your donation is dedicated to MDFA.
- If you live in other countries, you can also send donations also directly to MDFA in the Philippines. Contact Cincin Young for more information.
Contact information about the project:
In USA:
MDFA c/o Cincin Young
2103 Whittier Drive,
Davis CA 95618
USA
E-mail : [email protected]
In the Philippines:
MDFA
c/o Biology Department,
Xavier University,
Cagayan de Oro City 9000,
Misamis Oriental,
Philippines
(click on individual pictures to see a close-up)
