Maniolas

A lawmaker is proposing the creation of bike lanes on major roads all over the country in a bid to encourage the public to leave their cars at home and ride a bike to work. House Bill 3952, filed by Davao City Representative Karlo Alexei Nograles last February, seeks the creation of the local bikeways office (LBO), which shall be responsible for identifying roads and highways to be provided with bike lanes. The LBO will be mandated to plan and manage the construction of bikeways on all thoroughfares and roads within its jurisdiction. The project will be implemented  in coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Land Transportation Office (LTO) and other related government agencies. Funds for the creation of bikeways and other related infrastructure such as bicycle parks and bike parking areas shall come from 30 percent of the revenues raised by local government units from the miscellaneous activities like parking and license fees. Should the proposal become a law, the LBO will be required to create a procedure for bike registration. The records of registered bikers shall be kept and maintained by the proposed government agency. Under HB 3952, bikers will face fines of up to P10,000 if they violate certain traffic rules, such as carrying more passengers than what the vehicle is designated to hold in the absence of a regular seat or trailer towed by the bicycle. Nograles said in the bill’s explanatory note that the creation of bicycle lanes in the entire Read More …

The United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization are set to donate typhoon-and earthquake-resistant vaccines and immunization equipment in an effort to ensure the cold chain storage management of vaccines in Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan)-affected areas. The WHO, UNICEF, and the Department of Health (DOH) plan to establish the cold chain storage system first in Tacloban City, one of areas hit hardest by Yolanda, and then expand the program across typhoon devastated communities. Equipment used to maintain the cold chain, a temperature-controlled system essential to retain the protective ability of vaccines and immunizing agents, will be donated to 450 DOH health care facilities. These include 5,000 temperature-monitoring devices, 4,000 vaccine carriers, 800 cold boxes, 400 back-up generator systems,150 ice-lined refrigerators, 50 solar-powered refrigerators and 200 Sure Chill freezers, which allows the facilities to operate for more than ten days without electricity. Also 16 walk-in cold rooms for vaccine storage will be constructed at the regional and provincial levels, where three million doses of measles/rubella and oral polio vaccines will be stored. WHO, together with UNICEF, also trained health workers to improve vaccine and cold chain management. WHO already delivered 16 solar-powered vaccine refrigerators in Leyte to enable autonomous storage of vaccine stock replenishment from the DOH’s warehouses within the third week of the Yolanda crisis. WHO also provided a million doses of measles/rubella vaccine for the DOH program, along with AD mixing syringes and safety boxes, and two domestic refrigerators for use in Tacloban. Cold chain equipment were also Read More …