Health Ministry calls for people participation in fighting measles, HFM, dengue

The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the People’s Committee in Hanoi launched a campaign to prevent measles, hand-foot-mouth (HFM) and dengue at Dich Vong Hau preschool yesterday with the participation of around 1,000 representatives from ministries, agencies and international organizations.
Health Ministry calls for people participation in fighting measles, HFM, dengue
At the launch of the campaign, a representative of MoH called for people, especially parents to actively adopt measures against the three diseases.
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that as diseases are developing unpredictably in the world and the region including outbreaks of hand-foot-mouth in the west of Pacific in 2017 and continued outbreaks in 2018. 
Dengue plagues annually in the Southeast Asia region while measles is reported in 181/194 nations and territories including European countries which announced they are free from measles. 
Low vaccination resulted in reoccurrence of measles in European countries.
The cases of hand-foot-mouth, dengue  saw a year-on-year drop by 18.9 percent and 53.6 percent respectively in the Southeast Asian country in 2018.
Worse, from 2013 to 2017, infection cases of contagious diseases such as rabies, whooping cough, malaria and diphtheria have been reported with low rate than other nations in the Asia.
However, there has been increase in infection cases of HFM and measles lately in some localities such as HCMC, the southern provinces of  Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Hanoi.
Mr. Thanh Long emphasized that it is peak season for these disease because present weather is conducive for outbreaks of contagious diseases and the academic year starts, students gather in school triggering the disease to spread more in schools.
In reality, outbreaks have been reported in crowded localities with low vaccination rate.
Mr. Long warned that in the next time, the disease will develop unpredictably. It is highly likely that emerging diseases in other countries enter Vietnam,  measles, HFM and dengue might break out at all time without drastic measures.
To curb transmission of the contagious diseases, the Ministry of Health launched the campaign aiming to mobilize the participation of local administration, unions, politic units, families and the society in battling the diseases to improve people’s health.
The Ministry requested administrations in cities and provinces to take heed to the preventative measures against the three diseases above by encouraging parents to take their kids to medical for immunization.
The health sector in localities must keep an eye on the disease development to early detect and provide timely treatment to curb death.
Parents are encouraged to keep personal hygiene to prevent the disease as well as disinfect environment and pay attention to food safety, vaccination against measles, rubella,  whooping cough and Japanese encephalitis. 
Residents should remove stagnant water and prevent mosquitoes from breeding by covering water containers, wells and water tanks tightly and repairing uneven surfaces of the ground to prevent water from gathering.
At the launch ceremony, activities such as disinfecting schools, washing hand and toys, floor in Dich Vong Hau Preschool, administering vaccine shoots against measles – rubella and such.

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