Dengue fever cases up, but lack of funding threatens eradication

Dengue fever is on the rise. Head of the Health Ministry’s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department Nguyen Huy Nga discussed the issue with Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times).

A recent Ministry of Health (MoH) report showed that some localities recorded an increase of more than 300 per cent in dengue fever cases compared to 2008. Can you comment?

The majority of these localities did not report any cases of dengue fever last year, or recorded only a very small number of cases. For example, if a province reported 10 cases of dengue fever in 2008 and then 300 in 2009, the increased percentage would be very large.

That said, the rapid increase in the number of patients suffering from the disease was attributed to inefficient preventive measures at the local level.

Could you give the name of a specific province that has yet to efficiently prevented the disease?
Central Phu Yen Province can be taken as a specific example of a locality that lacked strict controls and supervision over sterilisation efforts. When more cases of the disease were being reported in the province, MoH issued directives for the prevention of further spread of the disease but local authorities were slow to adopt them. MoH will send a mission to the province this week to work with the People’s Committee on this issue.

The disease appears every year and often concentrates in the southern region. Can you comment?

Dengue fever appears not only in Viet Nam but other countries around the world. Outbreaks of the disease have increased rapidly in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia.

In Viet Nam, dengue fever "hot spots" have continued to appear in the south this year, particularly in Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, Ninh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Can Tho, Hau Giang, Kien Giang and HCM City.

$4.1m to fight dengue fever
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved abudget allocation of VND70 billion (US$4.1 million) for dengue fever prevention in the country, an official has said.The funds, to be given to the Health Ministry’s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department, will be handed to provincial departments, who will be responsible for spraying local homes to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes that carry the disease.Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the department, said there had been nearly 25,700 dengue fever cases nationwide during the first half of the year, up 26 per cent compared to the same period last year.Twenty-six people have died from the disease since January, an increase of 24 per cent year-on-year.The highest increases occurred in the south, particularly in HCM City and Kien Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long and Soc Trang provinces.The southern region, having many rivers and canals, is a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes. — VNS

The disease breaks out heavily in the south because of the region’s environmental conditions such as climate change and tides, which create a favourable environment for breeding mosquitoes, the main carriers of the disease.

In the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region, people often store water in open containers for daily use, creating favourable living conditions for mosquitoes.

Does the lack of finances hinder activities against locality level prevention and control of dengue fever?

The Government Office reported that the Prime Minister has signed a decision regarding the national dengue fever prevention and control programme budget.

How will this budget be used?

A budget plan was mapped out upon programme approval. Funds will be used to purchase sterilisation chemicals and for training courses at the department level.

A portion of the budget will be earmarked for localities to implement activities such as buying sterilisation medicine and equipment.

Do you think the budget will help curb the spread of the disease?

I hope so. However, the real demand for disease prevention measures and controls are often 20 times higher than the approved amount allows.

Doesn’t it mean that this is the reason for the heavier outbreak of the disease and the increased number of patients?

Many problems remain with prevention and control work. The Department of Preventive Medicine and Environment warns that the prevention and control work requires the participation of the entire population.

MoH started to sterilise high risk areas in June rather than July as in previous years.
However, sterilisation is only effective at killing adult mosquitoes. Mosquitoes still in the pupa stage were not killed.

Therefore, not only MoH but local households need to purchase equipment and chemicals to kill the pupa in the wet areas around their homes and they should work regularly to prevent an outbreak of the disease. — VNS