VietNamNet Bridge – Eight districts with high incidences of contagious diseases will take part in a three-year programme on disease prevention, Nguyen Tri Dung, the head of the HCM City Preventive Health Centre in HCM City has said.

Dung, who spoke at a meeting with the centre and its district branches, on Wednesday, said the eight districts were densely populated and were in developing urban areas with a high risk of outbreak of disease.

The districts include Binh Tan, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Thu Duc and Go Vap, as well as District 8.

He said the programme would expand to the city's remaining districts if the three-year plan was successful in the eight districts.

Dung also instructed districts' preventive health centres to conduct preventive methods at kindergartens and schools this month, a peak period for measles, chickenpox and mumps.

In the first two months of the year, chickenpox broke out in a primary school in District 12 and at a kindergarten in Binh Thanh District.

The centre as well as local health officials and school managers have ordered the schools to be disinfected.

Children with chickenpox have been told to stay at home for treatment and isolation to prevent the spread of disease.

As of February 28, no outbreak of chickenpox had occurred at the schools, Dung said.

However, school managers should be vigilant and take preventive measures and monitor absent students who have been sick, he added.

Communication about disease-prevention measures, such as hand-washing and vaccinations against disease, should also be improved, he said.

VNS