Doctors at Ninh Thuan General Hospital check on a child patient with a severe case of hand-foot-and-mouth disease. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam is at elevated risks from
, given its location in the hot and humid tropical monsoon
region as well as the increasing rate of trade and travel.
Changing weather conditions heighten the risk of disease transmission from
circulating diseases such as dengue fever, hand-foot-and-mouth disease,
measles…; vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis, avian flu, mumps,
to newly emerging dangerous diseases imported from abroad such as monkeypox.
According to the Ministry of Health, in 2023, the world continued to record
cases of illness and death from diseases transmitted from animals to humans or
newly emerging dangerous infectious diseases in many countries. According to
the World Health Organization (WHO), in December 2023, the world recorded
nearly 10,000 deaths from COVID-19, with hospitalisations increasing by 42%
compared to November 2023; new variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to evolve, with
the JN.1 variant rapidly increasing globally.
In the US,
China, and some European countries, there has also been a resurgence of
COVID-19 infections along with the spread of respiratory diseases such as
seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
WHO estimates that annually there are about one billion cases of ,
including 3-5 million severe cases; among them, 290,000 to 650,000 prove to be
fatal. In addition to seasonal flu and acute respiratory infections, in 2023,
the world also recorded cases of high-pathogenic avian influenza such as
A(H5N1), A(H5N6), and A(H9N2).
In 2023, Vietnam managed to have solid control over infectious disease
situation, with the general goal of minimising the incidence and mortality from
infectious diseases compared to the 2016-20 average.
COVID-19 has officially become a transmissible disease belonging to Class B,
playing an important role in the country’s economic and social recovery and
development; the number of cases and deaths from dengue fever has sharply
decreased compared to 2022; hand-foot-and-mouth disease and measles have seen
an increase in cases compared to 2022 but have been promptly controlled, and
starts to decline in numbers since October 2023.
Pertussis only occurred locally in some northern mountainous provinces, and no
Class A infectious diseases such as plague, Ebola, MERS-CoV, avian flu A(H7N9),
avian flu A(H5N1), and avian flu A(H5N6) were reported domestically.
However, according to the Ministry of Health, disease prevention and control
still face various challenges, with unstable, unpredictable disease
developments (including the emergence of new diseases, and mutations of
existing ones).
Key areas for dengue fever with high annual prevalence are densely populated
areas, urbanisation, many construction works, industrial parks, population
dynamics with many tourists, students and ethnic minorities, making it
difficult to control disease cases and implement epidemic prevention and
control activities.
Vaccination rates in some areas are still low, especially in
remote areas and areas inhabited by ethnic groups, so the immune response may
decrease over time, the ministry warned.
Some
places have not really been proactive in ensuring logistics support for
epidemic prevention and control, leading to a lack of readiness in medicines,
vaccines and medical supplies for the monitoring, inspection, diagnosis and
treatment of infectious diseases such as dengue fever, hand-foot-and-mouth
disease, pertussis and .
In the
new plan for infectious disease prevention and control in 2024, the health
ministry proposes that the People’s Committees of provinces and cities direct
the health departments to develop a plan for infectious disease prevention and
control in 2024 to submit to the provincial and city People’s Committees for
approval as well as enhancing the role and responsibility of authorities at all
levels in disease prevention and control.
In
addition to ensuring the preparedness of response plans for epidemics,
localities must consolidate and enhance the capacity of the epidemic prevention
and control system at all levels, especially in remote areas, mountainous
areas, border areas, islands, areas with a concentration of ethnic minorities
and mobilise the participation of authorities and social-political organisations
in the efforts.
Frequent
epidemic surveillance is also urged, especially at border gates, community and
health facilities, to detect threats and devise responses in time, in order to
prevent widespread transmission and prolonged outbreaks in the community.
Local
authorities direct healthcare facilities in the area to effectively carry out
patient management, timely treatment, minimise severe cases, deaths, and
control infections, preventing cross-infections in healthcare facilities, and
ensuring drugs, biological products, supplies, chemicals and equipment to meet
the requirements of epidemic prevention and control.
The
health ministry also orders holding regular campaigns to eradicate mosquitoes
and larva, keeping in mind the involvement of the community in the dengue-fever
prevention efforts./.
Source: VietnamPlus
