Patients hospitalised for dengue fever treatment in HCM City. (Source: plo.vn)

The Preventive Health Centre in HCM City will continue its dengue-fever preventive programme this year as the city has seen a downward trend in the last two months.

Last month, 1,651 patients had dengue fever, a decrease of nearly 55 percent compared to January. However, the number was 92 percent higher than the same period last year. Of the number, o­ne patient died. The individual had visited the hospital for emergency aid after being treated at home for five to six days.

Speaking at a meeting held o­n February 29 by the city's Department of Health, Dr Le Hong Nga, head of the centre's general planning division, told health officials in districts to strengthen preventive activities. Officials were told to focus o­n destroying mosquitoes and larvae to prevent dengue fever and the spread of the Zika virus now sweeping Latin America. Nga said that Aedes mosquitoes that can transmit the Zika virus live in the city area. "If there is a patient with the virus in the city, an epidemic could break out," she said.

The General Department of Preventive Medicine o­n March 5 will launch a campaign for people to pay more attention to destroying mosquitoes and larvae. District health officials were also told to focus o­n surveillance of hand, foot and mouth disease, especially at schools, as this is the peak period for the disease.

In January, a minor outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease occurred in o­ne kindergarten in District 3, but district health officials took action early to prevent the spread of the disease. In the last two months, the city reported 557 cases of hand, foot and mouth, a decrease of 40 percent compared to the same period. Respiratory diseases should also be given more attention as this is the season for such ailments, Nga said.

Vaccination campaigns

Nga also said that two campaigns that provide fee oral polio vaccines and a combined vaccine against measles and rubella this month will be carried out in the city. The oral polio vaccine will be provided to 199,500 children under five years old in seven districts with a high risk, including 12, Go Vap, Hoc Mon, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, Tan Phu, and Binh Tan. Local ward and commune health centres will provide the vaccine to children at their kindergartens. The combined vaccine against measles and rubella will be provided to 124,000 to people born in 1998 and 1999 to increase coverage of the vaccine in the community. In 2014 and 2015, the city concluded its campaign to provide the vaccine to children aged o­ne to 14.

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