Infectious disease epidemics in the world and in Vietnam are forecast to continue to evolve unpredictably in the coming time and there will continue to be a risk of new variants appearing and spreading, as well as emerging dangerous infectious diseases.
Infectious disease epidemics in the world and in Vietnam are forecast to continue to evolve unpredictably
The Ministry of Health has just issued the Plan to prevent and control infectious diseases in 2024. According to the plan signed by Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, infectious disease epidemics in the world and in Vietnam are forecast to The situation will continue to be unpredictable in the near future and there will continue to be a risk of the emergence and spread of new variants and emerging dangerous infectious diseases.
Vietnam is located in the tropical monsoon region, hot, humid, and rainy. Along with the context of globalization, the increasing demand for trade and tourism, and unusual weather changes are favorable conditions. The benefits increase the risk of disease spread (from endemic diseases such as dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, measles…; vaccine-prevented diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus… to other diseases. emerging dangerous diseases imported from abroad such as monkeypox…).
According to the Ministry of Health, in 2023, the world will continue to record cases of illness and death due to diseases transmitted from animals to humans and dangerous and emerging infectious diseases in many countries. According to the World Health Organization, in December 2023, the world recorded nearly 10,000 deaths due to COVID-19, the number of hospitalizations increased by 42% compared to November 2023; New variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to mutate, currently JN.1 has increased rapidly globally.
In the United States, China and some European countries also recorded a resurgence in COVID-19 infections along with the spread of other respiratory diseases such as seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
It is estimated by the World Health Organization that every year there are about 1 billion cases of seasonal influenza, of which 3-5 million cases are seriously ill; including 290,000 to 650,000 deaths. Besides seasonal flu and acute respiratory infections, in 2023 the world will also record cases of highly dynamic influenza A(H5N1), influenza A(H5N6) and avian influenza A(H9N2).
In Vietnam, by 2023, the situation of infectious diseases will be controlled and basically achieve the common goal of minimizing morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases compared to the average year in the period 2016-2020; Timely control and minimize the risk of disease outbreaks to contribute to protecting, caring for and improving people’s health and economic and social development.
COVID-19 has officially changed to a group B infectious disease, making an important contribution to the country’s socio-economic recovery and development; The number of infections and deaths due to dengue fever will decrease sharply compared to 2022; hand, foot and mouth disease, measles recorded an increase in cases compared to 2022 but were controlled promptly and have decreased since October 2023; Diphtheria only occurs locally in some localities in the Northern mountainous region and the country has not recorded group A infectious diseases such as cholera, Ebola, MERS-CoV, influenza A (H7N9), influenza A (H5N1), Influenza A (H5N6)…
However, according to the Ministry of Health, there are still some difficulties in epidemic prevention in our country such as: the epidemic is unstable and unpredictable, always with a potential risk of outbreak; Emerging dangerous infectious diseases continue to appear; New strains and pathogens are constantly changing.
The key areas of dengue fever with high annual prevalence are densely populated areas with urbanization, many construction projects, industrial parks, and population mobility with Many tourists, students, etc. make it difficult to control cases and carry out epidemic prevention activities.
Vaccination rates in some places are still low and have not reached the set progress, especially in remote areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities; Immunity decreases over time.
Some places have not been truly proactive in ensuring logistics to serve epidemic prevention and control, leading to unavailability of drugs, biological products, vaccines, chemicals, supplies, and equipment for surveillance activities. monitor, test, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, diphtheria, monkeypox…
Provinces and cities are prepared to respond when epidemic situations occur
In the 2024 Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Plan, the Ministry of Health assigns departments/departments/institutes/functional units under and under the Ministry to perform tasks according to assigned tasks.
For the People’s Committees of provinces and cities, they are responsible for directing the health sector to develop a plan to prevent and control infectious diseases in 2024 and submit them to the People’s Committees of provinces and cities for approval; enhance the role and responsibility of governments at all levels in disease prevention and control; ensure preparation of plans to respond to pandemics or epidemic emergency situations; Consolidate and improve the capacity of the epidemic prevention and control system at all levels, especially in difficult areas, remote areas, mountainous areas, borders, islands, and ethnic minority areas. minorities and mobilize the participation of the government, departments, branches, unions, and socio-political organizations in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Implement declaration of group B and group C infectious diseases; Request the Ministry of Health to declare a group A infectious disease epidemic according to regulations.
Direct the Departments of Education and Training, Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate closely with the Health sector to continue effectively implementing activities: hygiene and disease prevention, ensuring food safety, providing enough drinking water, clean water and regular environmental sanitation at educational establishments and schools; Organize propaganda, education, and raise awareness of students, officials, and teachers about disease prevention and control measures; prevent and control epidemics in livestock, poultry, and livestock; Supervise, early detect, and thoroughly handle outbreaks in animals and prevent and combat diseases transmitted from animals and food to humans; Drastically implement measures to manage dog and cat populations, organize rabies vaccination for dogs and cats.
Direct the inspection and supervision of disease prevention and control and sanction administrative violations according to the provisions of Decree No. 117/2020/ND-CP dated September 28, 2020 of the Government and other regulations. other current regulations.
The Ministry of Health requests the Departments of Health of provinces and cities to direct the Center for Disease Control and preventive medicine units in the area to effectively deploy regular surveillance, key surveillance, and monitoring activities. based on events and responses to infectious diseases and epidemics; proactively monitor and supervise at border gates, in the community and in medical facilities, detect early, respond quickly and promptly and thoroughly handle infectious disease outbreaks to prevent widespread spread. Prolonged outbreaks in the community;
Vaccination in expanded vaccination to prevent diseases in children.
Organize training and drills to respond to epidemic situations or emergency public health events; Deploy activities of rapid response teams and develop plans, prepare to respond when epidemic situations occur; Develop plans and deploy vaccination for subjects in the expanded vaccination program to ensure safety, science and effectiveness.
Direct medical examination and treatment facilities in the area to perform well the work of admitting patients, providing timely treatment, minimizing serious cases, deaths and controlling infections, avoiding cross-infection. in medical facilities and ensure that drugs, biological products, supplies, chemicals, and equipment meet the requirements for preventing and fighting infectious diseases.
Direct health units in the area to continue promoting communication work on infectious disease prevention and control; Coordinate with local authorities at all levels and relevant departments and branches to organize and deploy measures to prevent and control infectious diseases in the area; Regularly organize campaigns to kill larvae and larvae and mobilize the participation of the government, departments, branches and organizations at the grassroots level to maintain and deploy community dengue prevention teams to propagate and supervise. Supervise and guide the removal of larvae and larvae from households;
Propagate and guide people to proactively participate in vaccination against diseases recommended by the Health sector and mobilize people to proactively implement measures to prevent and control dengue fever.
Organize inspection of infectious disease prevention and control of local units; Organize inspection, examination and supervision of the implementation of plans to prevent and control infectious diseases and the implementation of provisions of the Law on prevention and control of infectious diseases, vaccination…
