Doctors at Ninh Thuan General Hospital check on a child patient with a severe case of hand-foot-and-mouth disease. (Photo: VNA) Changing weather conditions heighten the risk of disease transmission fromcirculating 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 recordcases of illness and death from diseases transmitted from animals to humans ornewly emerging dangerous infectious diseases in many countries. According tothe World Health Organization (WHO), in December 2023, the world recordednearly 10,000 deaths from COVID-19, with hospitalisations increasing by 42%compared to November 2023; new variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to evolve, withthe JN.1 variant rapidly increasing globally.
In the US,China, and some European countries, there has also been a resurgence ofCOVID-19 infections along with the spread of respiratory diseases such asseasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
WHO estimates that annually there are about one billion cases of seasonal flu,including 3-5 million severe cases; among them, 290,000 to 650,000 prove to befatal. In addition to seasonal flu and acute respiratory infections, in 2023,the world also recorded cases of high-pathogenic avian influenza such asA(H5N1), A(H5N6), and A(H9N2).
In 2023, Vietnam managed to have solid control over infectious diseasesituation, with the general goal of minimising the incidence and mortality frominfectious 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 anddevelopment; the number of cases and deaths from dengue fever has sharplydecreased compared to 2022; hand-foot-and-mouth disease and measles have seenan increase in cases compared to 2022 but have been promptly controlled, andstarts to decline in numbers since October 2023.
Pertussis only occurred locally in some northern mountainous provinces, and noClass 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 controlstill face various challenges, with unstable, unpredictable diseasedevelopments (including the emergence of new diseases, and mutations ofexisting ones).
Key areas for dengue fever with high annual prevalence are densely populatedareas, urbanisation, many construction works, industrial parks, populationdynamics with many tourists, students and ethnic minorities, making itdifficult to control disease cases and implement epidemic prevention andcontrol activities.
Vaccination rates in some areas are still low, especially inremote areas and areas inhabited by ethnic groups, so the immune response maydecrease over time, the ministry warned.
Someplaces have not really been proactive in ensuring logistics support forepidemic prevention and control, leading to a lack of readiness in medicines,vaccines and medical supplies for the monitoring, inspection, diagnosis andtreatment of infectious diseases such as dengue fever, hand-foot-and-mouthdisease, pertussis and monkeypox.
In thenew plan for infectious disease prevention and control in 2024, the healthministry proposes that the People's Committees of provinces and cities directthe health departments to develop a plan for infectious disease prevention andcontrol in 2024 to submit to the provincial and city People's Committees forapproval as well as enhancing the role and responsibility of authorities at alllevels in disease prevention and control.
Inaddition to ensuring the preparedness of response plans for epidemics,localities must consolidate and enhance the capacity of the epidemic preventionand control system at all levels, especially in remote areas, mountainousareas, border areas, islands, areas with a concentration of ethnic minoritiesand mobilise the participation of authorities and social-political organisationsin the efforts.
Frequentepidemic surveillance is also urged, especially at border gates, community andhealth facilities, to detect threats and devise responses in time, in order toprevent widespread transmission and prolonged outbreaks in the community.
Localauthorities direct healthcare facilities in the area to effectively carry outpatient management, timely treatment, minimise severe cases, deaths, andcontrol infections, preventing cross-infections in healthcare facilities, andensuring drugs, biological products, supplies, chemicals and equipment to meetthe requirements of epidemic prevention and control.
Thehealth ministry also orders holding regular campaigns to eradicate mosquitoesand larva, keeping in mind the involvement of the community in the dengue-feverprevention efforts./.
VNA
