Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien on March 9 inspected the prevention of measles in Ho Chi Minh City as there has been an unusually high number of cases recorded in the southern city since the end of 2018.

Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Huu Hung said from 2018 to February 2019, the city recorded 4,327 measles cases, including over 2,600 in the first two months of this year.

Though the number of cases tends to decline, it remains very high compared to previous years, he said, adding that the disease has appeared in 285 out of the city’s 319 wards and communes.

The city’s health department found that 97 percent of the infected cases had not been vaccinated or fully vaccinated, Hung noted.

Currently, the rate of measles vaccination in the city is estimated at 96 percent for the first shot and 80 percent for the second one. This rate is still far from the target of 95 percent, according to Hung.

Given the fact, Tien directed the city’s health department to coordinate with the education sector and People’s Committees in districts to promote the supervision of vaccination in the community, especially in the group of under-five-year-old children as well as increase awareness-raising campaigns in densely populated areas.

The minister asked health stations to increase the injection days to 2-4 in a month instead of one at present.

The city’s health centre should set up mobile injection teams to prevent the spread of the disease as soon as possible, Tien suggested.

VNA