Proactively prevent disease after floods

(Baonghean) - 2 weeks after the "historic" flood, we returned to Hoang Mai Town, people's lives are gradually returning to normal. Clearly identifying the work that needs to be done after the flood and storm is environmental sanitation, disease prevention for humans and livestock, Hoang Mai Town and Quynh Luu District have focused on mobilizing people to clean up the environment...

After the flood receded, a large amount of mud, plant waste, and animal carcasses were left scattered from inside the house to the door, wells, roads, fields, etc., posing a very high risk of disease. To support people in flooded areas in environmental treatment, units of the Provincial Border Guard Command, the District Military Command, and the District Youth Union sent their soldiers and union members to volunteer to help localities clean up, collect livestock carcasses, clean classrooms, and repair landslides. The authorities of the wards and communes, along with directing people to clean up and collect their family garbage to the collection point for transportation, mobilized youth and organizations to help schools.

800 liters of chemicals provided by the Provincial Veterinary Department were deployed by the Hoang Mai Town Veterinary Station to disinfect livestock barns of households in 10/10 wards and communes. Mr. Pham Chi Dien - Head of the Economic - General Department, Hoang Mai Town, said: "Domestic water is one of the difficult problems after the flood, people's wells are all polluted, so in parallel with hunger relief and stabilizing people's lives, the town has also focused on treating domestic water for people".

Of the total of more than 11,429 households in 181 villages and blocks of Hoang Mai Town that were flooded, 10,473/11,377 flooded wells have been treated; 4,543/4,543 dry tanks have been treated with chemicals (Cloramine B and alum). Along with water tanks and wells, 100% of sanitary facilities in flooded households have been sprayed with chemicals and treated with chemicals. Doctor Nguyen Thi Phuong - Head of Quynh Thien Ward Health Station, said: "Households with dug wells and dry tanks have been instructed by health station staff and block health workers to treat chemicals and wash immediately after the water recedes. For the dead livestock and poultry that floated to the area, the commune directed hamlets to collect and dig deep holes to bury and treat with lime powder.

Workers of Hoang Mai Town Environmental Investment and Development Joint Stock Company help people clean up trash after storm No. 10.

Although nearly 100% of wells and dry tanks have been treated, people are still very cautious. After treatment, well and barrel water is only used for washing, in the first days, households bought bottled water or tap water for drinking. Recently, there has been rain, so people take advantage of the opportunity to collect water in dry tanks for use. Currently, although there has been no outbreak, according to our records at the Quynh Di Commune Health Station, some diseases have appeared after the flood such as children suffering from respiratory diseases (due to the humid climate); itchy skin diseases, gynecological diseases...

Doctor Le Van Thao - Director of Quynh Luu District Medical Center (including Hoang Mai area) said: "Implementing the direction of the industry, learning from previous epidemic suppression, right before the flood occurred, based on the provided amount, we promptly delivered to the communes and wards in the flooded areas: including 144 kg of Cloramin B, 14,500 Aquatabs water purification tablets and 15,000 Cloruamin B tablets to all communes in Quynh Luu and Hoang Mai districts. For areas severely flooded, in addition to the additional amount provided after the flood caused by storm No. 10, the center also provided additional supplies and medicines and is currently fully prepared to prepare for emergency situations related to epidemics.

The flood has passed for nearly 3 weeks and up to now, there has been no major epidemic, which is a blessing for people in the flooded area. However, speaking with us, Mr. Tran Nguyen Truyen - Head of Planning Department, Provincial Center for Preventive Medicine said: "Although there has been no major epidemic after the flood, because Hoang Mai Town, especially Quynh Di area, Hoang Mai Town... used to be the place where there was an epidemic of acute diarrhea, cholera bacteria and dengue fever, the industry cannot be subjective. The Provincial Center for Preventive Medicine as well as the district are sending staff to regularly monitor and update developments from the communes so that as soon as signs of an epidemic are detected, they can focus on containing and handling it immediately."

Currently, waste in the town is only collected once a week and transported to a centralized landfill. Due to the lack of planning for collection locations and limited tools and means, the situation of garbage stagnation or random garbage collection still occurs. In the conditions of very heavy rain and humidity, combined with garbage stagnation, it creates the risk of disease outbreaks. Therefore, in addition to environmental treatment, Hoang Mai Town needs to have solutions to increase the collection, transportation and timely treatment of waste, avoiding garbage stagnation to contribute to cleaning the common environment, limiting conditions for disease outbreaks.

Nguyen Hai