Illustrative image (Source: blogs.biomedcentralcom) Hanoi (VNA) –Policy advocacy will be promoted, along with efforts to call for financial and humanresources for the prevention and control of malaria, parasitic andinsect-transmitted diseases to successfully eliminate malaria in Vietnam by 2030, heard a conference held by the Ministryof Health and PATH, a global non-profit organisation on public health, in Hanoi on March 22.
The conference aims to contribute to, through the strengthened communications and policy advocacy, ensuring sustainable finance for malaria elimination, prevention and control, preventing malaria's return, and updating new and effective treatment methods.
According to the NationalInstitute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology (NIMPE), over the past 30years, the National Programme on Malaria Prevention and Control has reapedremarkable achievements. In 1991, malaria broke out throughout the country withmore than 1 million infections, killing 4,646 people. In 2022, the number of malariapatients was only 455, including one death, and no malaria epidemic broke out. Todate, 42 provinces and cities have been recognised to be free from malaria.
However, the disease,which is mostly spread through mosquitoes, has still developed complicatedly inmany localities, threatening more than 6.8 million people. Major reasons behindthe situation include drug-resistant malaria virus; population mobility,chemical resistant mosquitoes, and modest resources for malaria prevention,control and elimination.
Meanwhile, data fromthe Ministry of Health in 2022 showed that in the year, the country reported360,000 dengue fever cases, including 100 deaths. NIMPE has conducted monitoringover mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever at 57 areas in 12 provinces anddiscovered the changes in behaviours of the mosquitoes as well as their chemicalresistance.
At the same time, campaigns to prevent and control parasitic diseases wereconducted, with more than 12.8 million children aged 24 - 60 months, primaryschool students and women of reproductive age were dewormed in 2022.
According to theMinistry of Health, this year, relevant professional guidance should bereviewed, adjusted and supplemented to be carried out comprehensively acrossthe country, along with the evaluation of the progress of the national strategyagainst malaria until 2020 with a vision to 2030.
Alongside, theministry will roll out measures to prevent the return of the disease to the 42malaria-free localities, while enhancing the quality of efforts to preventparasitic and insect-transmitted diseases.
Participants held that it is necessary to strengthen policy advocacy for thework and support medical staff, while increasing the application of newtechniques in preventing, detecting and treating the diseases, building a distributionmap of mosquitoes, and calling for assistance from international organisationsfor the work./.
