Ho Chi Minh City's decision to declare measles epidemic helps fight the epidemic more strongly

On March 28, a working delegation of the Ministry of Health led by Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan inspected measles prevention work at Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City.

70% of measles patients are from other provinces and cities.

Reporting at the meeting, Dr. Cao Minh Hiep, Head of the General Planning Department, Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, said that in the past 3 months, the hospital recorded 1,520 measles cases hospitalized with nearly 300 severe cases.

About 70% of hospitalized children live in other localities, including Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Long An... Nearly 50% of severe measles cases are children under 9 months old, 83% of cases requiring resuscitation have not been vaccinated.

From the beginning of the year, Children's Hospital 1 has developed a plan to prevent epidemics, strengthen expertise for lower levels, organize measles vaccination for children before discharge and medical staff.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan (left) discusses with doctors at Children's Hospital 1 about triage and treatment of measles patients.

Analyzing the cause of the measles outbreak, Dr. Le Hong Nga, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), said that the measles epidemic cycle occurs once every 5 years, along with the prolonged interruption of vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program, causing measles cases to increase from mid-2024.

As soon as the first measles case was detected, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health issued a proactive plan to prevent the epidemic, assess the risk of an outbreak and have a plan to protect high-risk children.

On August 27, 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee announced a measles epidemic in the city. Immediately afterwards, 300,000 doses of measles vaccine were transported to HCDC, immediately implementing the measles vaccination campaign for children aged 1-10. After that, 112 more vaccination points were expanded at 3 private vaccination systems.

Scene of the working session of the Ministry of Health at Children's Hospital 1, HCMC

By November 19, 2024, all districts had achieved the vaccination target of over 95%, currently at 99.64%. The city also started vaccinating children from 6 months to under 9 months of age against measles immediately after receiving approval from the Ministry of Health.

On March 27, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee announced the end of the measles epidemic in 22 wards and communes, aiming to end the epidemic throughout the city in the second quarter of 2025. Dr. Le Hong Nga said that to control the measles epidemic more effectively, there needs to be synchronization in the implementation of the measles vaccination campaign between provinces and cities.

Declaring measles epidemic helps HCMC fight the epidemic more strongly

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan expressed his impression of the activities of admission and treatment of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time, he highly appreciated Ho Chi Minh City's initiative in promptly announcing the measles epidemic in August 2024.

"This is the legal basis for implementing more drastic epidemic prevention measures, including immediately purchasing 300,000 doses of vaccine to launch the vaccination campaign," said the Deputy Minister of Health.

Children with severe measles must be treated with intensive care.

Currently, the measles situation in Ho Chi Minh City is showing a sharp downward trend, but in the northern provinces, the measles epidemic is increasing. The Deputy Minister of Health requested that the Ho Chi Minh City health sector continue to closely follow and implement the instructions of the Government and the Ministry of Health in epidemic prevention.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has directed hospitals in the area to fully equip themselves with medicines and medical equipment; strengthen communication on epidemic prevention in the press and social networking and multimedia platforms, in order to widely reach the people.

Strengthen training and professional training for lower levels in medical examination, treatment and epidemic prevention.

For Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, the Deputy Minister of Health requested to develop a plan to respond to the epidemic in all situations, ensuring isolation and treatment, infection control, and minimizing cross-infection.

According to Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health, the worrying point is that measles patients from other provinces are still flocking to Ho Chi Minh City, while they can be treated locally. This will increase the spread of measles. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector must increase training in measles treatment according to the new regimen of the Ministry of Health for provinces and cities, improve the capacity of lower levels and increase treatment flow.

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Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/quyet-dinh-cong-bo-dich-soi-cua-tphcm-giup-chong-dich-manh-me-hon-post788083.html