(VOVWORLD) - One of the UN Millennium Development Goals is ensuring health care and protecting people against dangerous epidemics. Vietnam and other countries around the world are taking aggressive measures to cope with the Covid-19 epidemic. Vietnam is strengthening its preventive medicine system and preparedness. The efforts reflect Vietnam’s determination to promote human rights.
This year’s Vietnam Doctors’ Day, Feb 27, must be an unforgettable time for the whole medical system, doctors, pharmacists, medical staff and Vietnamese people who all are bracing to cope with the Covid-19 epidemic.
Vietnam controls emergency medical issues
Vietnamese doctors and medical staff have over the past month struggled with the Covid-19 epidemic in the spirit of fighting an enemy at the Prime Minister’s request. With the strong determination of the political system and the medical staff, Vietnam has so far prevented the spread of the disease, whose epicenter is in China, with which Vietnam shares a long border. Vietnam’s winning the first battle against the Covid-19 epidemic has been attributed to the sense of responsibility of doctors and medical staff and an evidence of the Vietnamese health care system’s capability. In a report on February 13, the World Health Organization praised Vietnam’s initial success in coping with Covid-19. The government activate its response system as soon as the epidemic entered Vietnam, strengthened surveillance, implemented aggressive prevention, infection control, and case management measures, and enhanced its testing system, communications activities and multi-sectoral cooperation. According to the WHO, Vietnam’s capacity in dealing with emergency public health issues and new infectious disease outbreaks has increased remarkably.
Preparedness of the health care system
The WHO says Vietnam’s capacity in dealing with and controlling emergency health issues has been tested. Over the past 30 years. Vietnam has built its capacity in disease surveillance and diagnosis and effectively dealing with epidemics. Vietnam’s capacity in preventing and responding to dangerous and newly emerging diseases has increased. Improvements have also been reported in disease treatment and preparedness for dangerous diseases. Vietnam has eliminated many diseases like smallpox, polio, tetanus in new-borns, and bubonic plague. Thanks to an expanded vaccination program, the number of infections of diphtheria, whooping cough and rubella has fallen from thousands to a few hundred times. Other diseases like dengue fever, viral encephalitis, tuberculosis, typhoid, and cholera have been put under control with a limited number of infections and fatalities. Vietnam was one of the first countries to successfully control SARS and A/H5N1 and A/H1N1 influenza, and successfully prevented A/H7N9, Ebola, and MERS-CoV.
Vietnam has strengthened its surveillance and testing systems of diseases like MERS-CoV, Ebola, A/H7N9 and Covid-19. Vietnam is one of just a few countries that can produce vaccines like seasonal influenza vaccines which are approve for commercial sale.
Vietnam has applied bio-technology to quickly diagnosing agents of diseases like rubella, dengue fever, and foot and mouth disease, which is a prerequisite for preventing the spread of epidemics. Early this month, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemics announced the successful cultivation and isolation of the new corona virus which will enable the testing of samples and further research of vaccines against the virus. Vietnamese doctors and medical staff are making silent sacrifice to protect people’s health.
Vietnam is acknowledged internationally as one of just a few countries with a health care network spreading to hamlets and villages, a model that other countries want to learn. There are more than 700 district hospitals and 11,000 communal clinics nationwide. 60% of communal clinics meet national standards. Vietnam has a total of more than 1,400 hospitals with 180,000 beds.