Strengthening malaria prevention and control

Increasing number of cases

According to the Provincial Center for Disease Control, from July 2023 to July 2024, the number of malaria cases in the province increased sharply with monthly records ranging from 14 to 50 cases; from August 2024 to May 2025, the number of cases gradually decreased and decreased by 91% compared to the same period. However, from the beginning of June until now, the number of malaria cases has increased again with 26 cases, nearly double compared to the first 5 months of the year (14 cases). The number of cases from the beginning of the year until now is mainly concentrated in the communes: Tay Khanh Vinh 20 cases; Nam Khanh Vinh 7 cases; Khanh Vinh 4 cases; Trung Khanh Vinh 3 cases; Bac Khanh Vinh 3 cases, the rest are in Cam Hiep commune, Ninh Hoa ward and Tay Nha Trang ward.

Doctors at Khanh Vinh Medical Center check the health of malaria patients being treated at the center.

Khanh Vinh Medical Center is the unit that receives and treats nearly 95% of malaria cases in the province. After 3 days of treatment, the symptoms of the disease have decreased. Mr. Cao Xua (Tay Khanh Vinh commune) said that his job is to protect the forest, so he is aware that he is at high risk of malaria. Therefore, when his body has symptoms of fever, chills, headache, he immediately went to Khanh Vinh Medical Center for examination, testing and was confirmed to have malaria. Mr. Cao Xua is 1 of 2 malaria patients recorded in July. The remaining patient treated at the Provincial Hospital for Tropical Diseases has stabilized and been discharged. Dr. Truong Thi Tuyet Mai - Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Khanh Vinh Medical Center said: "Most malaria patients who are treated at the center are usually those who go to the forest, sleep in the fields or work as woodcutters and acacia peelers. All cases respond well to the treatment regimen, some cases recover within 3-4 days, some cases last up to 5 days."

Synchronously deploy solutions

Faced with the situation of increasing malaria cases again, the Department of Health recently had a working session with Khanh Vinh Medical Center, health stations of the communes: Nam Khanh Vinh, Trung Khanh Vinh, Bac Khanh Vinh, Tay Khanh Vinh and Khanh Vinh on malaria prevention and control.

Dr. Ton That Toan - Deputy Director in charge of the Provincial Center for Disease Control said that since the beginning of the year, the center has coordinated with relevant units to drastically implement solutions to prevent and control malaria such as: Monitoring, testing to detect cases; investigating cases and disease outbreaks; taking blood samples to monitor malaria parasites; spraying chemicals and impregnating mosquito nets and hammocks for people... Accordingly, the units have taken blood samples for testing for 7,130 cases with fever coming to medical facilities for examination; organized 17 investigation rounds, taking blood samples for testing for more than 4,040 people in villages and communes with disease outbreaks and high risks; coordinated with the working group of CHAI (a global health organization committed to the mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries) to investigate and screen and test 350 people at malaria hotspots. At the same time, 5,220 mosquito nets were treated with chemicals and 500 single-peak mosquito nets were distributed, 10,600 mosquito nets and 4,100 sets of hammocks covered with residual chemicals, 500 tubes of mosquito repellent creams were distributed... to support people in preventing and fighting malaria; residual chemicals were sprayed for 855 households. The difficulty in preventing and fighting malaria in Khanh Hoa province is that there are 2 to 3 strains of malaria parasites circulating at the same time, while other localities only have 1 strain circulating.

Representatives of commune health stations also raised current difficulties related to malaria prevention and control such as: Checkpoints for people going to the forest and fields to prevent and control malaria have stopped operating; this is summer time so most children follow their parents and grandparents to the fields; there is no alternative source of Prymaquin (drug to treat the spread and prevent relapse)... Therefore, it is difficult for units to isolate high-risk subjects; organize surveillance activities, investigate epidemics, disease outbreaks, propaganda...

To proactively prevent and combat malaria, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thoan - Deputy Director of the Department of Health suggested: "Communes should consider re-establishing checkpoints to control people entering forests and fields and support forces to guard these checkpoints; continue to promote communication to each person in the direction that when returning from forests and fields, they should consciously go to medical facilities for malaria screening tests. At the same time, localities must monitor people who go to forests and sleep in fields. Medical facilities should strengthen epidemiological surveillance in high-risk communes with malaria vectors; expand investigation and proactive screening of suspected malaria cases; resolutely implement solutions to control and reduce the number of cases...".

Khanh Hoa province's goal in 2025 is to reduce the number of malaria cases by 80-90% compared to 2024, aiming to eliminate malaria by 2030. To achieve this goal, the province must have 3 consecutive years (2027, 2028, 2029) without recording any cases. Therefore, there needs to be more drastic cooperation from all levels, sectors and people in malaria prevention and control in the province.

C.DAN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/xa-hoi/y-te-suc-khoe/202507/day-manh-cong-tac-phong-chong-sot-ret-e1415f3/