Health

Hanoi (VNA) – A workshop held in Hanoi on April 28 highlighted the important role of the private sector and digital technology in public health emergency response and monitoring.

After global disease outbreaks in the past, 196 countries, including Vietnam, agreed to comply with the International Health Regulations 2005 to develop the capacity of collecting and analysing health information so as to make early warnings and response to public health events.

Event-based surveillance (EBS), one of two methods for monitoring communicable diseases, aims to quickly detect any public health events that run the risk of causing disease transmission and outbreaks or affecting public health, and to issue a timely and appropriate response, thus minimising any negative impact on the public.

EBS is conducted by collecting information from three main sources: the community, healthcare establishments or testing labs, and the media (press, social networks).

Nguyen Thi Huong, an official from the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, pointed out the low participation of private health establishments in public health surveillance and reporting, even though the sector is potentially a major source of input information for EBS.

Since 2020, based on the success of involving the private healthcare system in screening and reporting non-communicable diseases, malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV, Population Services International (PSI) Vietnam has applied chatbots, via which private healthcare facilities report suspected COVID-19 cases and infectious diseases that may turn into outbreaks.

The application has received financial support from the UK Department for International Development, the Unilever group, and the World Health Organisation in Vietnam.

PSI Vietnam has carried out a project on engaging the private sector in public health emergency response in Hanoi and the provinces of Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ha Nam, and Quang Binh. The project has applied technological solutions to optimise efficiency and increase the timeliness of the EBS system.

After six months, it has provided training on the system to nearly 3,100 pharmacies and clinics. More than 81,900 cases with suspected symptoms have been reported via the system, becoming a source of supplementary data for the early detection and zoning of disease hotspots.

Underlining the importance of engaging the private healthcare sector in EBS, UK Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward said close cooperation between the Government, international organisations, and private healthcare establishments can help boost the application of scientific initiatives so as to secure the public’s health and safety and sustainable development./.

VNA

This is the first locality of the city to implement electronic health records for a large number of dwellers.

According to Associate Professor-Dr. Tang Chi Thuong, Deputy Director of the city Health Department, after 2 years of preparation, the department has embarked on electronic health records for over the first 22,000 residents in Ward 27 (Binh Thanh district).

Under the pilot project, each citizen is provided with a separate QR code and scans of the code. They can log in on their smartphones to declare their personal information and health status, which are the first steps to establish their electronic health records.

At the launch of the pilot project, people were instructed in more detail on how to declare electronic health records on their phones. The roadmap for electronic health records will be implemented in three phases according to the Health Department.

In the first stage, the Health Department will admit the administrative data of those participating in health insurance under the code transferred by the Ministry of Health. Next, the people’s committees of communes and wards will add the data of those who have not participated in health insurance as well as collect their health record and their personal information including weight, height, blood pressure, number of pregnancies, number of children, vaccination status.

In the second stage, the Department of Health will build data and it will connect electronic health records with electronic medical records in all medical facilities in the third stage. This is the city’s shared data system, which is used as a basis for building a health care strategy for city dwellers.

If after the pilot implementation in Ward 27 is successful in 2021, Ho Chi Minh City will set up health records for all residents in 23 other wards and communes and will continue to expand in the coming years”, Associate Professor Dr. Tang Chi Thuong informed.

Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, his deputies and leaders of units at the Ministry of Health received COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine shots on May 6 morning at the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital.

Long, 54, along with three of his deputies – Tran Van Thuan, 51, Truong Quoc Cuong, 60, and Do Xuan Tuyen, 55 – remained at the hospital after the inoculations for follow-up health monitoring. All of them said they felt fine after receiving the injections.

The minister said the global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX is expected to deliver another 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca to Vietnam on May 10, as part of the commitment to supply some 39 million doses within 2021 and early 2022 to inoculate the prioritised groups as identified by the Government.

When the supplies are more available, eligible people could include students and workers sent overseas.

Long said that the 74 percent of the nearly 1 million doses of AstraZeneca – more than 800,000 from COVAX brought to Vietnam on April 1 and more than 117,000 purchased from the manufacturer that arrived late February – have been administered, and the doses could be finished within a few days.

According to a report released on May 6 morning by the National Expanded Programme on Immunisation, more than 90,000 people were vaccinated on May 5.

In total, 675,956 people in 48 cities and provinces of Vietnam – primarily frontline workers and medical staff – have been inoculated.

Some 16 percent of the 600,000 vaccinated people reported typical symptoms post-injection which usually disappear within 24 hours, Long said, adding that this ratio is lower than in other countries, while other more severe reactions have been dealt with.

He said: “We always stressed the need to ensure safe vaccination. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has established a Steering Committee for safe immunisation, which brings together leading experts and professors in all relevant fields to be ready to assist localities in handling any situation arising during the vaccination drive.”

The fourth deputy health minister, Nguyen Truong Son, who just returned from the trip bringing Vietnamese medical supplies aid and experts to help Laos battle their wave of infections, is currently under quarantine after coming into contacts with a doctor at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases found positive to the virus. His latest COVID-19 test on May 5 was negative./.

VNA

Although Covid-19 in Vietnam has been controlled, staying alert is a necessity, as cold and dry winter conditions favor the transmission of the virus.

Health experts in Vietnam have warned about the Covid-19 outbreak during the upcoming winter, especially in the northern region, Kinh Te & Do Thi quoted Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam as saying at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Covid -19 Prevention and Control on October 15.

Experts have assessed that the world has been experiencing a long outbreak of Covid-19, Mr. Dam emphasized, adding that although the disease in Vietnam has been controlled, staying alert is a necessity, as cold and dry winter conditions favor the transmission of the virus.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Europe is facing a new outbreak as the number of new Covid-19 cases has been rising sharply there. Many European countries have re-imposed lock down measures in an effort to contain the resurgence, he noted.

Therefore, the deputy PM requested serious management and quarantine of people entering the country. All incoming people have to be put under medical surveillance for at least 28 days from the date of entry.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has drafted a guide on entry protocols, including sanitary control and quarantine of those who enter Vietnam from countries deemed safe on commercial flights.

At present, people entering Vietnam have to be tested for Covid-19 three times, instead of twice regulated previously, so as to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The MoH is managing information of incoming people and will provide it to local authorities as well as health and police forces to facilitate the monitoring of these persons in their localities, Mr. Dam added.

The Committee also stressed the need to facilitate the entry of foreign entrepreneurs, investors, workers, and experts.

Given the rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world, Director of the MoH’s Department of Preventive Medicine Dang Quang Tan said disease prevention and control measures still need to be further enforced, especially communication works should be enhanced to raise public awareness.

Mr. Tan recommended that big and populous localities like Hanoi, Danang and Khanh Hoa should make masking up compulsory and fine anyone who refuses to do so.

As of October 16, Vietnam has gone through 44 consecutive days without new community infections. It has reported 1,124 cases of Covid-19 so far, including 1,030 recoveries and 35 fatalities.

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health announced on May 21 that it had allocated COVID-19 vaccines to centres for disease control in cities and provinces, armed and public security forces, hospitals, universities, and ministry units.

In this third phase of allocation, 1,682,000 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility will be provided to target localities and units.

In terms of localities, Hanoi is allocated the most, with 71,000 doses, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with 70,000, Hai Duong 58,000, and Bac Giang 30,000.

The Health Ministry has asked that localities and units receiving allocations promptly conduct vaccinations and complete the task by August 15.

The COVID-19 vaccination scheme has been carried out since March, with priority being given to frontline medical workers and people involved in prevention and control activities.

As of 4pm on March 20, a total of 1,021,085 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to target groups in an effective and safe manner./.

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Addressing a working session with representatives of the city’s health sector on May 22, PM Chinh applauded Can Tho for its initial successes in responding to COVID-19 outbreaks.

However, he noted that Can Tho must not be heedless and off guard because it is the center of the Mekong Delta region and the gateway connecting Can Tho international airport with other localities, and is close to Cambodia where the COVID-19 pandemic is developing very complicatedly and unpredictably.

Can Tho’s health sector must play a central role in the Mekong Delta region with nearly 20 million people,  and promote creativity to effectively prevent and control the pandemic, he said.

Attention should be paid to preventing COVID-19 in industrial zones, aiming to early detect, rapidly quarantine and testing, the PM said, stressing the need for the sector to prepare equipment, medical supplies and testing tools to serve treatment and testing.

The health sector was also required to simultaneously promote communication work in order to raise public awareness of the danger of and the importance of preventing the pandemic.

According to Nguyen Phuoc Ton, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health, the city’s health sector has activated the entire rapid response system to strictly control the situation.

As of May 22, Can Tho recorded 34 people infected with COVID-19, who were imported cases and quarantined upon their arrival. Twenty-eight of them were given the all-clear from coronavirus.

The city’s health sector has completed the first vaccination round for 7,759 people and is about to receive 13,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses for the second phase of vaccination from the Ministry of Health.

Source: VNA