Strengthening the sharing of infectious disease information between the two sides of the Vietnam - Laos border

Attending the conference were representatives of the leaders of Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan provinces (Lao People's Democratic Republic) and districts of Nghe An province.

Nghe An has 419 km of common border, 6 districts (Que Phong, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Anh Son and Thanh Chuong) with 3 provinces of Xieng Khouang, Hua Phan and Bolikhamxay of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

In order to effectively respond to international epidemics, in recent times, Nghe An has continuously strengthened the control of infectious diseases, health security cooperation, especially the successful implementation of the project "Health Security in the Greater Mekong Subregion" in Nghe An province in 2018.

The conference was attended by representatives of the health sector of the two provinces of Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan. Photo: Thanh Chung

In the first 8 months of 2018 alone, Nghe An coordinated with neighboring countries to closely inspect and monitor passengers and vehicles traveling from epidemic areas through border gates with 2,216 road vehicles, 24,677 people entering and exiting through road border gates; 279 ships, 4,987 people passing through waterway border gates; organized one environmental sanitation activity, sprayed chemicals to kill disease vectors, monitored vectors and water sources at border gate areas; conducted many direct and indirect communication campaigns at border gate areas; shared information on infectious diseases with Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan provinces.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Health opened the conference. Photo: Thanh Chung

With the efforts, Nghe An's epidemic prevention work has achieved many good results such as: The epidemic prevention system has been constantly strengthened and developed. Diseases have been prevented, controlled, and repelled, especially new epidemics on a global scale with rapid spread and high mortality such as SARS, influenza A H1N1, influenza A H5N1, Ebola, MERS-CoV... or common diseases in mountainous areas such as Meningococcal encephalitis, diphtheria, measles.

Checking the activities of the border quarantine team at Nam Can International Border Gate. Photo: Thanh Chung

At the conference, delegates focused on analyzing the current difficulties and challenges of bordering provinces in disease prevention.

Nghe An is a province with a large area, a large population, 10 mountainous districts with rugged terrain, difficult transportation, many secondary border gates and border crossings, so inspection and supervision cannot be carried out 100%. The education level of people in mountainous areas is still low, awareness of disease prevention is limited. There are still some epidemics circulating in the area.

Dr. De Giang, Deputy Director of the Xieng Khouang Provincial Department of Health, hopes that Nghe An will help in training human resources to prevent epidemics. Photo: Thanh Chung

Similarly, in the provinces of Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan, the health sector is facing many challenges as there are still many dangerous epidemics circulating; the health system for disease prevention is still very weak; people's lives are difficult...

The three provinces of Nghe An, Xieng Khouang and Hua Phan have jointly proposed solutions to continue to promote international epidemic prevention. That is, strengthen disease surveillance at border gates; regularly coordinate to share information on the situation of infectious diseases via the Internet between the two sides of the border; coordinate to monitor, assess and forecast epidemics, organize epidemic prevention drills in border areas; prepare means, medicines and chemicals; strengthen communication activities, inform people about epidemics and environmental sanitation.

With the project “Health Security in the Greater Mekong Subregion”, the four countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar work together to achieve a common goal: Ensuring health security for people in the Greater Mekong Subregion through strengthening control of infectious diseases; minimizing the possibility of new emerging diseases entering countries in the region; reducing mortality rates, morbidity rates and limiting the spread of epidemics among countries in the region.