Viet Nam applies strict measures for prevention and control of dangerous and emerging diseases
In the meeting, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Director-General of the General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM), provided an update on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and related measures taken in Viet Nam. He stated that the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa is becoming complicated and difficult to control, with an increasing numbers of infected cases and fatalities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the Vietnamese Embassies in infected countries to maintain regular contact representatives of Vietnamese citizens there. These Embassies need to provide information on the prevention and control of Ebola, and to support Vietnamese citizen in preventing the disease.
It was confirmed that no Ebola case has been detected in Viet Nam at present. However, the supervision of people coming from infected countries is undertaken strictly. All people entering Viet Nam from infected areas are classified according to their destination or place of residence and sent to the local Centre for Preventive Medicine for health monitoring. Currently, the Health sector has put in place different methods to maintain contact with these passengers, such as via telephone, email, website and contact with police in order to locate the passengers’ locations, meet with them and provide advice.
After the updates and reports of Committee members, Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long requested the related agencies to ensure effective implementation of the medical declaration of passengers coming from the infected areas; to continue close supervision of those passengers; to regularly coordinate with the Emergency Operations Center at the Ministry of Health in order to receive updated outbreak information from WHO and CDC and to make this information available online on the websites of GDPM, MOH and via other media; and to provide a hotline number for active prevention of Ebola.
In order to prevent the Ebola virus disease, the GDPM has advised people to conduct following measures:
- Practice careful personal hygiene, washing hands frequently with soap and antiseptic.
- Avoid direct contact with the blood, body fluids and belongings of infected people and animals or the items that may have been in contact with the blood, body fluids and belongings of infected people and animals.
- Avoid unnecessary travel to countries where the virus has been found, including the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. If travel must be undertaken, travelers should check the information on Ebola at the destination in order to prevent themselves from becoming infected.
- Avoid direct contact with infected people; if contact is nedessary, a medical mask and proper personal protection should be worn and distance maintained when having contact.
- Those who have returned from West African countries should monitor their health for 21 days and seek medical care immediately if they develop symptoms of Ebola, including fever, fatigue, severe headache, sore throat, diarrhea or vomiting, or if they have close contact with any person who has these symptoms.
- Regularly updated information on prevention and control of the Ebola virus disease is available on the websites of MOH: http://moh.gov.vn, GDPM: http://vncdc.gov.vn/ and other official websites.
