On April afternoon, the Steering Committee of Hanoi's prevention briefings coordinated with members of the steering committee and a commitment to strengthen prevention and control of Zika virus and dengue (DHF) with 30 districts and towns in the city.
City's Vice Chairwoman Ngo Van Quy made speech at the meeting
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Vice Chairwoman Ngo Van Quy said that warning alerts for the entire health care system had been raised more than one week ago, with monitoring and preventive measures strengthened. After the detection of the first infection cases, all localities have been required to elevate warning level to Level Two, which requires taking a wide range of measures from the formation of a local steering committee to preparations to deal with outbreaks in terms of equipment, personnel and medicine.
He said the Ministry of Health also instructed its specialised agencies and localities to carry out necessary measures to minimise the risk of Zika virus outbreak, given that the disease is highly infectious through striped mosquitoes, which are common in Vietnam.
He added that there is no need to be overanxious about microcephaly, a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads, citing reports that in Brazil, only 900 out of 6,000 cases of microcephaly were suspected of link to Zika virus. Research is still underway to see whether there is solid evidence on the link.
The City leader advised pregnant women to go to health facilities if they develop symptoms of fever, rash and conjunctivitis in the first three months of pregnancy and confirmed that all provincial-level health centres are qualified for the purpose.
Addressing the meeting, Vice Chairman Ngo Van Quy emphasized that Hanoi will continue into the more aggressive in Zika prevention. Vice Chairman of the Department of Health requires inspecting implement preventive measures in the province; ensure funding prevention. For the district, the town had to direct the implementation of environmental sanitation, mosquito, mosquito larvae, to give the anti-epidemic measures essentially and effectively.
