HCM City requested to double efforts to prevent measles
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on March 9 inspected the prevention of measles in Ho Chi Minh City as there has been an unusually high number of cases recorded in the southern city since the end of 2018.
Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (standing) speaks at the working session with HCM City's Health Department (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on March 9 inspectedthe prevention of measles in Ho Chi Minh City as there has been an unusuallyhigh number of cases recorded in the southern city since the end of 2018.
Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Huu Hung said from2018 to February 2019, the city recorded 4,327 measles cases, including over2,600 in the first two months of this year.
Though the number of cases tends to decline, it remains very high compared toprevious years, he said, adding that the disease has appeared in 285 out of thecity’s 319 wards and communes.
The city’s health department found that 97 percent of the infected cases hadnot been vaccinated or fully vaccinated, Hung noted.
Currently, the rate of measles vaccination in the city is estimated at 96percent for the first shot and 80 percent for the second one. This rate isstill far from the target of 95 percent, according to Hung.
Given the fact, Tien directed the city’s health department to coordinate withthe education sector and People’s Committees in districts to promote thesupervision of vaccination in the community, especially in the group ofunder-five-year-old children as well as increase awareness-raising campaigns indensely populated areas.
The minister asked health stations to increase the injection days to 2-4 in amonth instead of one at present.
The city’s health centre should set up mobile injection teams to prevent thespread of the disease as soon as possible, Tien suggested.-VNA
Measles has been reported in 43 out of 64 provinces and cities nationwide with 664 patients since early this month, particularly in the south, according to the Ministry of Health.
Nearly 90 percent of measles cases reported in Vietnam can be traced to people who were either not vaccinated against the highly contagious virus, received no full vaccinations or had unknown vaccination status.
New cases of communicable diseases in Ho Chi Minh City have gradually declined, but the figure stayed at a high level, said the municipal Preventive Medicine Centre.
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Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (standing) speaks at the working session with HCM City's Health Department (Photo: VNA)
