Students wash their hands before going to class in the southern province of Ben Tre.(Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Students faceseveral diseases at the beginning of the new school year, such as dengue fever,hand-foot-mouth disease, measles and flu, so epidemic prevention effortsshould be strengthened, health experts warned.
Hoang Duc Hanh, Deputy Director of the HanoiDepartment of Health, said that measles cases were on the rise in the capitalcity during the past week.
The number of measles cases in the first sevenmonths this year is four times higher than during the same period last year.Districts seeing a higher number of cases included Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, HaDong, Hoang Mai and Dong Da.
Hand-foot-mouth disease is also likelier tobreak out at schools, especially kindergartens, said Hanh.
With more than 1,000 kindergartens operated inthe capital city, if classrooms, toys and teaching aids were not cleanedproperly, an epidemic could break out, he said.
Speaking about the danger of the disease, TranDac Phu, Director of the Preventive Medicines Department under the Ministry ofHealth (MoH), said that the disease often broke out around the beginning of anew school year because it spreads via ingestion and digestive bacteria, somore interpersonal contact increases the risk.
“When only one child suffers from the disease,all the surrounding others can easily catch it, so school hygiene should betaken care of,” said Phu.
Doctor Do Thien Hai, deputy head of theIsolation Ward under the National Paediatrics Hospital, said that thedisease could become a great epidemic with serious after-effects. It tends tobecome worse and worse after only a few hours, he said.
Typical symptoms include fever, mouth sores anda skin rash. If children have the symptoms, they should be taken to hospitalsquickly to avoid unfortunate consequences, he said.
Dengue fever decreased significantly in Hanoithis year, but people still should be vigilant, said Nguyen Nhat Cam, Directorof the Hanoi Department of Preventive Medicines.
To prevent the disease from breaking out, thedepartment is joining hands with schools to give education and conductpreventive measures such as spraying medicines, killing mosquito larvae andkeeping the school’s environment clean.
Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Director of the Departmentof Preventive Medicines under the MoH, said that the ministry is cooperatingwith the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to set up a health model atschools, offering more education for students and their families on diseaseprevention.
Director of the Hanoi Department of Educationand Training Chu Xuan Dung asked schools to conduct preventive measures againstdengue fever and other diseases, to ensure that all classrooms, school campus,toilets and water sources must meet all norms regulated by the MoH and MoET.
The department requires schools to set up acommittee specialising in taking care of the students’ health, and assignresponsibilities to each member of the committee. The committee should educatestudents on disease prevention, especially dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth anddiarrhoea.
“Schools must work with local medical stationsto give health examinations, supervision and care for the students. They mustbe taken to hospitals in time if necessary,” said Dung.-VNS/VNA
VNA
