The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us many valuable lessons and I am happy, with the cooperation of our people. The administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is, I believe, on the right track in facilitating our recovery from this global health crisis. Hence, we should continue to reevaluate our capabilities, improve our efforts and consider new legislative solutions that will strengthen our response to existing and future public health threats.

Last Tuesday, the Department of Health revealed that the cholera cases nationwide from 1 January to October this year are 282 percent higher than the cases recorded in the same period last year.

This translates to 976 cases in that period in 2021 to 3,729 cases in 2022. Worse, the disease has already claimed the lives of 33 people since January this year.

The health department also reported last Friday that all regions in the Philippines are at high risk for measles outbreaks due to low immunization coverage and detection. In fact, since the start of 2022, our country has recorded 489 measles and rubella cases, which is 167 percent higher than those recorded during the same period in 2021.

On Saturday, a recent study by the University of the Philippines Population Institute revealed that 7.5 percent (about 1.5 million) of Filipino youth had attempted suicide in 2021, amid the pandemic.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, I find all these reports particularly concerning especially as we are still in the midst of a global health crisis due to Covid-19. While the DoH has recently assured that the "highly immune-evasive" XBB Omicron subvariant has not yet been detected in our country, its entry may just be a matter of time.

I call on our government then to ensure that all our people have easy access to potable water to lower the cases of cholera, which is commonly caused by unsafe drinking water. I also urge every Filipino to exercise good hygiene and sanitation to reduce the risk of the disease.

I also urge our government to step up its immunization efforts against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases to prevent future outbreaks. While our nationwide vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is ongoing, our health officials must also make sure that the government does not divert attention away from other diseases that may be prevented by vaccines, particularly measles and polio.