Vietnam among top five nations with highest abortion rate

A  July 8 meeting in HCM City marking World Population Day announced that on a per capita basis, Vietnam has one of the five highest abortion rates in the world.

Delegates at the event reported that Vietnam has the highest abortion rate in the Southeast Asian region, and its birth rate among adolescents aged 15–19 years is rather high (46/1,000).

They pointed out that Ho Chi Minh City has the highest abortion rate in Vietnam, particularly among adolescents whose rate increases year by year, from 2% in 2010 to 4% in 2013.

They attributed HCM City’s increasing rate to young people’s limited knowledge about reproductive health care, saying that the city should step up information dissemination and provide consultancy service to reduce abortion rate, particularly for teenagers.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), adolescent pregnancy results in negative consequences for adolescent girls, both physically and spiritually.

IBM Vietnam donates modern learning kits

IBM Vietnam on July 8 made a generous donation of 40 sets of school materials “Young Explorers” to KidSmart for the benefit of 24 kindergartens and 7 social welfare centres across the country.

The KidSmart software is designed to stimulate the children’s creativity, ability of thinking, problem solving and community integration.

It also features fun and interactive games that are ideal for young patrons age three up to seven and is designed to stimulate the children’s creativity, ability of thinking, problem solving and community integration.

Since 2001, IBM has donated 537 such learning kits worth more than US$1.6 million in total for Vietnam benefitting nearly 20,000 children and 1,000 teachers.

To date, IBM has granted over US$106 million in support of millions of poor students in more than 60 countries and territories around the world.

*** Also on July 8, representatives from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) presented gifts to children with harelips and cleft palates at Hanoi-based Vietnam-Cuba hospital.

The child patients received free surgeries following a charity programme jointly organized by the NFVC and Operation Smile International, which has pledged support for over 1,000 Vietnamese children this year.

By June 30, as many as 806 child patients were provided with free medical check-ups and treatment, including 508 cases receiving free surgeries worth approximately VND3 billion.

Long An intensifies support for Cambodian provinces

The Mekong Delta province of Long An has so far this year provided over VND10 billion (US$476,000) in support of its neighbouring Cambodian provinces of Svay Rieng and Prey Veng.

It has helped Prey Veng build a bridge spanning the Cai Co canal at the Tan Hung-Svai A Ngoong auxiliary border gate. The bridge is expected to be completed in 2015.

It has also trained eight public servants from the two Cambodian localities in the Vietnamese language and agricultural techniques as well as granted scholarships to Cambodian students of Vietnamese origin at the provincial School of Economics and Industry.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Do Huu Lam said Long An will continue maintaining and developing all-round relations with Cambodia, organising charitable activities and accelerating the implementation of cooperation agreements with the two Cambodian provinces in the fields of economics, socio-culture, security and defence.

Hunt for seeds ruins forests

Like a plague, hunters are swarming local forests. The devastation left in their wake isn't from a search for gold, or for diamonds.

It's all because of a nut.

The price of uoi tree (or malva nut tree) seeds has spiked recently, and people have flocked to the central provinces of Quang Nam, where the trees are plentiful.

Once harvested, uoi tree seeds are used in traditional Chinese medicine to ease gastrointestinal disorders and soothe soar throats.

Favourable weather conditions have led to particularly fruitful harvests this year, according to Phan Tuan, head of the provincial Forest Management Department. As the market price of uoi seeds rose, people began rushing to the protected mountain forests of Nam Tra My, Bac Tra My, Nam Giang and Phuoc Son districts.

At present, a kg of uoi seeds is worth between VND 250,000-300,000 (US$11.7-14), an increase of VND50,000 or $2.3 over crops in recent years.

People can collect tens of kilograms of seeds from individual uoi trees, which are native to Southeast Asia.

But what has been good for foragers, has been havoc for the region's forests. Many decades-old trees were cut down, Nguyen Thanh Tam, Nam Tra My district's police chief, told VnExpress online.

There's been an even higher price for this high-value natural medicine. Tam said the illegal logging of uoi trees has caused injuries and even deaths as people are crushed under falling trunks.

Provincial authorities have issued an urgent order for local forest protection agencies, forest management boards and police to co-ordinate a crackdown on illegal logging of uoi trees. Local leaders are also calling for more patrols and checkpoints to prevent the transportation and trade of uoi seeds.

Last month, local authorities handled 72 cases of illegal logging and transport of uoi seeds, seizing more than 7.7 tonnes of seeds.

Ha Noi to upgrade workers' skills and improve veterinary standards

The city's Department of Animal Health is organising courses to help poorly trained veterinary workers improve their skills in caring for animals, ensuring food safety and preventing food borne illnesses.

Can Xuan Binh, deputy director of Ha Noi's Department of Animal Health, said the city's veterinary workers were ill-equipped and too few in number to fight or prevent epidemics.

The city now has 584 animal health units in communes, wards and towns, but lacks 54 heads for the units, according to the department.

There are also fears that many of those senior veterinary professionals may be under qualified. Only 16 per cent of the unit heads have university degrees, less than a quarter of them have college diplomas, and about 3 per cent are not trained in animal health.

"Many of them are embarrassed when making reports or implementing epidemic prevention measures," said Binh.

Due to the shortage of veterinary workers, some districts' animal health units employ retired medical workers to fill that gap.

The city has more than 2,400 veterinary workers, but nearly a third of them are over age.

Moreover, Binh said, some animal health units in suburban districts are lacking refrigerators for vaccines, safety work wear, and other essential professional equipment.

City officials are hopeful the new program will improve the overall quality of veterinary care in the capital. Training courses will stress animal health regulations, as well as food hygiene and safety laws.

The trainees will be taught to monitor livestock and poultry epidemics, and ways to recognise and treat dangerous diseases such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth, and blue ear in pigs.

Everyday Ha Noi uses thousands of tonnes of livestock and poultry, and 40 per cent of the meat was transported from neighbouring provinces, according to the Ha Noi Department of Animal Health.

The city has more than 3,000 slaughter houses.

Hospitals can offer better service: MoH

Central hospitals offer better services than provincial and district hospitals, but are still only performing at an average level, according to a recent Ministry of Health (MOH) assessment.

Based on a set of 83 criteria issued by the MOH in December, the assessment aimed to improve hospital services and increase patient satisfaction. The criteria relate to patient care, workforce development, professional quality, quality improvement and professional knowledge.

Last year, hospitals carried out self-assessments in which they ranked their performance on a scale of five, from bad to very good, using these criteria. The ministry sent inspectors this year to re-assess them.

The results from self-assessments and the ministry's assessments did not vary considerably, said Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy director of the MOH's Medical Services Administration, adding that the average score was 3.18 out of 5.

He portrayed this fact in a positive light, telling Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper, "We consider the moderately good level a foundation to strive for good and very good levels."

The most common problem among the hospitals was overcrowding.

Pham Manh Than, head of the General Planning Division at Ha Noi's Saint Paul Hospital, said that the hospital tried to create better conditions for waiting patients, but was limited to repairing the health examination ward and adding chairs and fans. Other criteria would take a long time to meet, such as patients not having to share their beds or having soap to wash their hands.

The MOH intends to add 20-40 criteria related to vaccination safety and capacity for coping with epidemics to the list. Some hospitals also proposed criteria related to professional quality and professional knowledge.

Investment slated for telemedicine

The Ministry of Health this year will give priority to more funds for HCM City's Cho Ray Hospital and University Medical Centre to promote the use of telemedicine via their satellite hospitals in other provinces and cities.

During a visit to the University Medical Centre yesterday, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the two hospitals' doctors would provide professional treatment advice to satellite hospitals through telemedicine.

With use of IT and imaging networks, the city hospitals carrying out the satellite hospital programme will no longer need to send many doctors to those sites outside HCM City.

Cho Ray Hospital has satellite hospitals in the provinces of Tien Giang, Khanh Hoa and Dong Nai.

The University Medical Centre, which was initially reluctant to carry out the programme for fear that it would lose too many doctors, will implement the programme this year.

Tien suggested that the centre chose the Mekong Delta because most outpatients who visit the centre were from there.

Many of the patients take a bus at dawn to come to the medical centre and wait for health exams.

Tien said that it was also important that HCM City hospitals reduce their patient overload, she said, adding that the load was still too high despite shorter exam procedures and expanded facilities.

The centre, for instance, starts health examination at 6 am, and examines and treats nearly 5,000 outpatients every day.

The number of outpatients a day at Cho Ray Hospital is more than 4,000. It also has more than 2,400 inpatients daily.

Tien asked the three centrally managed hospitals to pay more attention to expanding their health examination facilities to meet demand.

Yesterday, Tien also checked Thong Nhat, Cho Ray and the University Medical Centre's progress on implementing their projects to reduce patient overload.

Shipping route to ease pressure on roads

A coastal shipping route connecting northern Quang Ninh Province and central Quang Binh Province officially opened last Saturday.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said the sea route would reduce high inventories at ports, in addition to restructuring Viet Nam's freight market to place less emphasis on road transport.

About 70 per cent of goods are transported via roads, according to director of the ministry's Marine Department Nguyen Nhat. After the minister stepped up vehicle weight inspections in April, road transport became up to ten times more expensive than waterway transport.

Nhat said that the move also increased inventory levels at Hai Phong, Nghe An and Ha Tinh ports as well as the number of ships docked at other ports.

"Sea transportation takes three times longer than road transportation, but freight charges by sea are usually one-fifth or one-sixth of those by road," he said.

Vice chairman of National Committee for Road Safety Khuat Viet Hung said that the coastal shipping route would help reduce pressure on roads because about 300,000 container trucks would be replaced with ships. The route could also boost the use of inland ports and seaports, Hung said.

Roughly 500,000-600,000 tonnes of goods each month are transported between the provinces on the new route (Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh).

Director of Thai Ha Shipping Joint Stocks Company Tran Duc Lanh said the route was best for short-distance shipping and recommended legal changes that would allow inland waterway vessels to be upgraded to seaway vessels.

Illegal sand miners sentenced to jail

The People's Court of the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap yesterday sentenced 11 people to jail for illegal sand exploitation.

The Ngu Binh Co., Ltd was caught illegally mining river sand in Hong Ngu District in October, 2012. Further investigation revealed that former leaders of the district had given the green light to the company to carry out the operations over a prolonged period, causing an estimated lost of more than VND12 billion (US$571,000).

Duong Tan Quoc, former CEO of Ngu Binh Co., Ltd, was given one and a half years behind bars for violating regulations on the exploitation of natural resources. The other defendants received up to over a year for the same charge.

Scholarships awarded to poor students

A total of 400 disadvantaged high school students with high study performances from eight cities and provinces have received Chung Mot Uoc Mo (A Shared Dream) scholarships each worth VND3 million (US$143).

The VND2.2 billion ($104,800) scholarship programme will fund the one-year tuition fee if the students pass the university entrance examinations in the fields of business management, marketing, accounting and engineering.

The annual programme, which has been organised by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Siam Cement Group for eight consecutive years, aims to assist poor students to continue their schooling.

Northern highway upgrade to resume

Work to upgrade a section of National Highway 38 running through the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Hai Duong started on Saturday.

The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project is backed by Vinaconex import company and Licogi 16 at a cost of nearly VND1.7 trillion (US$80.9 million).

When completed in the second quarter of next year, the 32.8km, four-lane road will make it easier to link traffic from industrial parks, seaports and airports in the two provinces.

At present, the road is in poor condition and narrow and is unable to deal with increased traffic from northern provinces.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said that the financing of National Highway 38 would reduce dependence on State budget money which could be spent on other infrastructure projects.

He asked Bac Ninh and Hai Duong authorities to provide fair compensation to households displaced by the work to ensure the project was finished on time.

In 2010, the transport ministry approved a project to upgrade National Highway 38 running through the two provinces with funding of VND541 billion from State and provincial budgets.

The work began in Februray, 2011, but until April, 2014, just 30 per cent of the work was completed due to a financial shortage.

Thus, the ministry and Bac Ninh Province People's Committee proposed Prime Minister to put the project under a BOT contract.

Power bills were not miscalculated: ERA

There were no errors detected during the recording and calculation of power usage by consumers, said Dinh The Phuc, deputy head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In responding question on the jump in electricity bills last month, Phuc told the press meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday that ERA checked electricity counters with presence of customers.

He said customers whose complaints on the sudden rise in their bills agreed with the conclusion and checked their electrical appliances.

"The new electricity retail prices that will apply to six price levels instead of the seven levels doesn't made the prices increased," he added.

The new calculation, which took effect from the beginning of June, stipulates that power tariffs for households consuming 0-50kWh will be 92 per cent of the average price, 95 per cent for 51-100kWh, 110 per cent for 101-200kWh, 138 per cent for 201-300kWh, 154 per cent for 301-400kWh and 159 per cent for more than 401kWh.

Deputy minister Do Thang Hai added that 76 per cent of households claimed on the rise had a power consumption of more than 400kWh. Of which there was no households had consumption of less than 100kWh.

"If households consume power of over 400kWh, the bills would be higher," Hai said.

Nguyen Quang Trung, deputy general director of Ha Noi Electricity Corporation (EVN Ha Noi) said the hot weather, that included three heat waves hitting the northern provinces between May and June, led to the increased use of electrical cooling equipment, resulting in higher power consumption.

Some districts like Hoang Mai and Dong Da, power consumption in June was 40-60 per cent higher than that of May.

He said the average power consumption last month was 42.7kWh a day, rising 23.4 per cent over May.

Alone in June, the number of customers which had power consumption 1.5 times higher than May in Ha Noi was 686,336 and accounted for 34 per cent of the total. Around 348,000 households or 17 per cent of the total had power consumption in June double than the previous month.

The ERA also said the electricity sector would ensure power supply for production and living in July.

Vietnam works to manage, eliminate POPs

The Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on July 8 held a conference to launch a project to update Vietnam’s national implementation plan for the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

The two-year project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), has been conducted since 2013 with the aim of realising Vietnam ’s obligations under the convention.

According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan from the Pollution Control Department, the project includes five components, including stocktaking POPs, assessing the national capacity in implementing the convention, and defining priorities of the plan.

The plan, to be updated with a system of actions and synchronic measures to better meet requirements of the convention, will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, and then sent to the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention.

Tran The Loan, deputy head of the Pollution Control Department under the Environment General Department, noted that Vietnam has actively engaged in controlling pollutants with specific actions, including the ratification of the convention and a number of laws such as the Law on Environmental Protection and the Law on Chemical.

The country will also renew the plan with more effective policies, laws, management institutions, technologies and financial sources, while designing a roadmap to implement it, thus contributing to protecting people’s health and the environment from POPs, he said.

Signed in Stockholm in 2001 and become effective in 2004, the convention targets the management and elimination of 23 dangerous groups of chemicals.

Vietnam ratified the convention in July 2002, becoming the 14th signatory party.-

Fire sweeps through 10ha of forest in Thua Thien-Hue

A fire gutted completely 10 hectares of planted forest in Quang Loi commune, Quang Dien district, the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on July 7.

The forests, aged nearly 10 years old, were planted on sand.

Scorching weather and strong wind were attributed to the quick spread of the fire, said Le Truong Luu, Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien Hue People’s Committee.

According to local residents, the fire might be caused by human carelessness.

Central localities are facing a high risk of forest fire due to hot weather in the dry season, which normally lasts from May to August.

Last year, 250 fires occurred across the country, ruining 965ha of forest.

Clean water reaches 72 pct of Central Highlands rural population

More than 2.93 million people in rural and mountainous areas in the Central Highlands of Tay Nguyen, or 72 percent of these areas’ total population, now have access to clean water, according to the Steering Committee for Tay Nguyen.

Dak Lak is leading the five Central Highlands provinces in this field, with 81 percent of all its people having clean water for their daily use.

The result is attributed to great investment in drilling wells and building water storage facilities and pipeline systems in areas where local people previously had to depend on natural streams and rivers for water. Dak Lak province alone built 90 water supply systems and drilled more than 220,000 wells in remote areas in Ea Sup, Cu M’gar, Krong Ana, Ma D’rak and Buon Don districts, bringing clean water to each household.

From now to 2020, Central Highlands provinces will strive to raise the rate of households having access to clean water to 85 percent in rural areas and 100 percent in urban ones.

The Central Highlands encompasses the provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum with a population of over 5.4 million people, 25.7 percent of them ethnic minority.-

Showers, thunderstorms spread across southern region

The southern region will see showers and thunderstorms over wide areas on July 9, according to the National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center.

Thunderstorms might be accompanied by vortex and gusts. Highest temperatures swing between 29-32 degrees Celsius. Rain will begin to abate from July 10.

While central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Ninh Thuan will continue to suffer a heat wave from July 9-10. The mercury will soar to 35-37 degrees and exceed 38 degree in places.

It will be sunny in daytime and showery at night in the northern region. Temperatures will average 32-35 degrees.

However, strong southwesterly winds have stirred mid and southern East Sea. The waters off  provinces from Binh Thuan to Ca Mau will be choppy with strong winds moving 39-49 kilometers per hour.

Reports see economic growth up in Can Tho, down in Hanoi

Economic growth rate reached 8.96 percent in Can Tho City in the first half this year, up 0.38 percent year on year while it was 7.4 percent in Hanoi, down 0.27 percent.

According to Le Hung Dung, chairman of the People’s Committee in Can Tho City, the city’s Consumer Price Index increased 5.89 percent and export turnover hit US$583 million.

He was reporting to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh at a meeting to the city leaders on local socioeconomic conditions, held on July 8.

In the first six months, the city provided jobs to nearly 22,300 people, accounting for 45 percent of plan, said Dung.

Can Tho City should continue to promote effective production modals in order to linking between production and market demand and applying science and technology, Mr. Ninh said.

The city should also intensify activities to expand the market, fight against smuggling and counterfeits, control inflation amidst volatile petrol prices in the world, and ensure security, national defense and social safety and order.

Hanoi’s economic growth reached 7.4 percent in the first half this year, a reduction of 0.27 percent over the same period last year, according to reports at the 10th session of the 14th Hanoi People’s Council which was opened on July 8.

Most key economic industries saw the growth rate lower than that in the same period last year and the city’s plan.

Hanoi has implemented policies to assist businesses to recover from crisis.

Vaccination campaign to be administered in schools

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has asked its sub-departments to coordinate with local medical clinics to broadcast the need of vaccination to the community.

Following the Ministry of Health’s requirement on vaccination campaign of measles and rubella in schools, MOET has ordered to enhance scattering the importance of immunization against measles and rubella for students and teachers across the country.

The education authority also encouraged parents to participate in the vaccination.

HCM City authority asks to stop new English teaching program

The People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City sent July 5 a guideline asking the city's Department of Education and Training (DOET) to stop implementation of a new English teaching program “Integrated Program”.

After discusses with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Committee issued the guideline asking the Education Department  to stop the program which has not been approved by the city Committee and make assessment of the available program, Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), which was allowed by the Ministry in state-run schools.

The city's Education Department was asked to make a detailed assessment of every aspect of IGCSE. Moreover, it has to explain the reason to stop the approved program and how it affects students and parents’ interest.

Before, on June 23, the Department and EMG Education Corporation announced that the Department had talked with the UK's Ministry of Education on the implementation of the new English teaching program called “Integrated program”, a new curriculum for teaching and learning Maths, Science and English at schools in HCMC, and the program would be piloted in the academic year 2014-2015.

Two following days, the Department sent guidelines for registering the program to schools in the city.

However, on June 30, the British Embassy in Vietnam issued a press release quoting British Consul General Douglas Barnes that there is no agreement between the Department for Education (DfE) of the Standard and Testing Agency (STA) from the UK with the city's Education Department and /or EMG to supply curriculum test materials or to qualify assure any aspect of teaching delivered in HCMC nor any official talk has been made to DfE or STA to discuss such arrangement.

Baby girl in Dong Thap dies of suffocation not vaccine: Medical expert

The death of a two month old baby girl is caused by breathing failure owing to a liquid in lung, said Dr. Nguyen Ngoc An, director of the Department of Medicine in the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap.

Two month old girl Vo Thi Bao Tram in Truong Xuan Commune in Thap Muoi District was taken to local medical clinic for vaccination on July 7. 35 neonates were administered vaccine shots at the clinic on the day.

At 2 PM, Tram suffered high fever and her parents took her to the local clinic. She was given the medicine to reduce fever. However, at 1.30 Am on July 8, she was hospitalized but doctors said that she died before.

Province health authority coordinated with Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Children Hospital 1 in HCMC and police soon carried out a post-mortem on the girl on July 8. Autopsy showed that she had no negative reaction to vaccine but there was liquid, maybe milk, in her lung and caused suffocation.

Encephalitis kills 5 in Vietnam

Encephalitis is plaguing in 31 provinces and cities in Vietnam, having affected 325 people and killed five of them this year, health authorities said.

The disease mainly affects   children under the age of 15 yet hospitals also received some adults suffering encephalitis in last months. There have been an increasing number of Japanese encephalitis children.

A 20 year old female patient in Dong Anh, Hanoi has been hospitalized in the National Tropical Disease Hospital for over a week and received intensive treatment in emergency room but she is being in a coma and her health condition is poor.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap, deputy head of the Emergency Ward, said that this patient was experiencing convulsion fits, feeble four limbs and she was put on breathing machine.  It  is anticipated that she can't survive and she would suffer after-effects on the brain nerve and kinetic system.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap   added that two more female patients in Hanoi suffering Japanese encephalitis were hospitalized in severe condition. Moreover, tests showed that they were suffering brain and spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Cap advised people not to neglect the disease though Japanese encephalitis rarely occurs in adults. However, medical experts are worried as there are three severe  Japanese encephalitis cases on adults.

Soon after they have lasting high fever, headache along with vomiting, people should go to hospital in order to minimize after-effects.

129 children in the northern provinces with encephalitis are being treated at the Central Pediatrics Hospital in Hanoi,   including 46 suffering Japanese encephalitis.  

Dr. Do Thien Hai,   deputy head of the Infection Sector, said that from end of June, Japanese encephalitis children increased dramatically. Noticeably,   the proportion of infection   cases this year is 20 percent higher than previous years.

Dr. Tran Dac Phu, who heads the Department of Preventive Medicine, said that encephalitis due to virus including Japanese Encephalitis is a fatal disease as it is caused by various viruses.

Signs of the disease include high fever and other symptoms relating to injuries in the central nervous system including headache, sensitivity to light, general malaise, stiff neck, stiff back, vomiting, confusion, memory loss, seizures, paralysis and coma.

Children aged below 15 are most vulnerable to the disease. Encephalitis can appear all year round, but its peak times are in June, July and August,

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine' latest statistic, of the total number of   patients, 65.8 percent were in the northern region, while 12. 3, 17.5 and 4.4 percent were in the central, southern regions and Central Highlands respectively. Cases are scattered.

There is no specific vaccine against viral encephalitis, except Japanese encephalitis,  said Dr. Tran Dac Phu. Vaccine against Japanese encephalitis has been included in  the National Expanded Immunization program since 1997 and immunization has been carried out at 580 districts of 60 cities and provinces across the country.

The Department of   Preventive Medicine asked municipal and provincial people's committee to mobilize the   participation of all sectors and take measures against viral encephalitis and improve treatment efficiency to minimize mortality and   bar cross-infection at health facilities.

Early detection of infected people is required to isolate the area and handle the outbreaks. Vaccination should be conducted among children in the age to ensure high rate of immunization.

People should clean the houses and farms to prevent mosquitoes and sleep in mosquito-nets.

VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND