Mobilizing the community to prevent new and dangerous infectious diseases.

On December 14th, the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) organized an inter-sectoral workshop to implement the program "Community Working Together to Prevent and Control Diseases," with the participation of representatives from relevant ministries and sectors.

The epidemic is developing in a complex manner.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2014, the Ebola epidemic broke out strongly in West African countries. Avian influenza, particularly influenza A(H5N1) and influenza A(H1N1), continued to record cases in several countries.

Raising awareness about dengue fever prevention among residents of A Vao border commune, Quang Tri province.

In particular, influenza A(H7N9), detected in China since March 2013, has not yet been brought under control and poses a risk of spreading to several other countries in the region, including Vietnam.

In addition, dengue fever and hand, foot, and mouth disease remain prevalent in many countries, especially in Asian countries, with tens of millions of cases and thousands of deaths recorded each year.

According to Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), in recent years, Vietnam has proactively and effectively implemented comprehensive disease prevention and control measures to prevent the entry of dangerous emerging diseases such as Ebola, MERS-CoV, plague, and influenza A(H7N9).

To date, Vietnam has not recorded any cases, but the risk of the disease entering the country is very high.

In addition, endemic diseases such as dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, malaria, rabies, encephalitis, anthrax, and several other diseases continue to record annual cases and deaths.

Although the A(H5N1) avian influenza outbreak has been brought under control by the health sector, preventing its spread to humans, outbreaks in poultry flocks are still frequently recorded.

Malaria is developing in a complex manner in the Central, Central Highlands, and Southern regions; in particular, there has been a recorded increase in drug-resistant malaria parasites, insecticide-resistant malaria mosquitoes, and a high risk of outbreaks in some key provinces.

Mr. Truong Dinh Bac also emphasized that disease prevention and control efforts in our country are currently facing many difficulties due to the complex developments of the pandemic in the world and the region.

New and emerging dangerous infectious diseases may enter Vietnam due to increased trade and travel. At the same time, some infectious diseases circulating in Vietnam, although showing a decrease in mortality compared to previous periods, still remain at high levels; and are experiencing localized increases in some provinces and cities.

In particular, Vietnam is located in a tropical climate zone, so its geographical, economic, social, and environmental conditions are all favorable for the development of many infectious diseases.

Furthermore, people's awareness and practices regarding personal hygiene, environmental hygiene, food safety, and proactive disease prevention are still low; the practice of small-scale livestock and poultry farming, slaughtering, buying, selling, and using food that does not meet hygiene standards increases the risk of transmitting diseases from animals to humans and causing large-scale outbreaks…

The community joins hands to prevent and control the disease.

According to Deputy Director Truong Dinh Bac, proactive and effective disease prevention and control largely depends on the specific actions of each individual and community, and the genuine involvement of all levels of government, departments, and organizations.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health issued the "Community Working Together to Prevent and Control Diseases" program for the period 2015-2020.

Sprinkle lime powder to prevent avian influenza outbreaks.

The program aims to mobilize all levels of government, mass organizations, socio-political organizations, individual families, and the entire society to proactively and effectively participate in disease prevention and control activities, contributing to improving public health.

The specific goals of the program are: 100% of communes, wards, and residential areas have plans and implement the "Community Joins Hands in Disease Prevention and Control" program; 80% of households actively participate in implementing disease prevention and control recommendations for their families and communities; over 95% of schools effectively implement the National Technical Standard on infectious disease prevention and control in educational institutions; over 90% of businesses, production facilities, agencies, and organizations in the area have plans and actively implement activities under the program...

The program focuses on contents such as effectively integrating the implementation of the "Community Working Together to Prevent and Control Diseases" program into the "All People Unite to Build a Culturally Rich Life in Residential Areas" movement; organizing weekly environmental sanitation days to prevent and control diseases; and mobilizing businesses and households to sign commitments not to transport or trade sick or unidentifiable livestock and poultry...

At the workshop, representatives from the Department of Student Affairs (Ministry of Education and Training) stated that in the coming period, to ensure the effectiveness of disease prevention and control in schools, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to strengthen coordination with the health sector in communicating disease prevention and control measures, vaccinations, and recommendations from the Ministry of Health in schools to raise awareness among parents and students.

Organizing training for school health staff on disease prevention and control, school immunization; monitoring, inspecting, detecting, and early handling of outbreaks and diseases; and coordinating the implementation of immunization programs in schools…

Representatives from the Department of Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that the units will strengthen communication in the community, enhance the capacity of disease prevention and control officials from the central to local levels, build pilot models for monitoring zoonotic diseases; and simultaneously implement field epidemiological training programs.

According to Vietnamplus