Conversations on Vietnam Development
Liệu Việt Nam có thể tiếp tục tiêm vaccine cúm gia cầm đại trà?
Chuyện đã xảy ra từ năm 2003 nhưng nhắc đến thời điểm cúm gia cầm bùng phát ở Việt Nam, nhiều người vẫn còn ký ức về bối cảnh người dân thì lo sợ, chính quyền thì bất ngờ, bỡ ngỡ và lúng túng trước một căn bệnh “từ trên trời rơi xuống”, càn quét qua đàn gia cầm trên cả nước một cách hủy diệt, chưa từng có tiền lệ.
Tiếp tục đọc “Tiêm vaccine cúm gia cầm ở Việt Nam: Trước ngã ba đường”
A World Mosquito Program project staff member hangs a mosquito-box from a tree in Colombo, Sri Lanka. | WORLD MOSQUITO PROGRAM
For Kasun Chameera, who lives in Sri Lanka’s densely populated capital Colombo, dengue fever is a disease which has afflicted many loved ones, including his brother.
“We fear death when we hear about dengue,” Chameera said. “It’s present almost everywhere in my district, and spreads faster in the city than in the villages.”
His brother “suffered a lot from it,” Chameera said. “For at least one to two months, he would be tired walking just 10 steps. We were very scared.”
Also known as breakbone fever because of the severe pain it can cause, the disease is a growing threat across Asia, where 70% of the world’s dengue cases occur. The virus is transmitted to humans through the bites of the female aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which thrive in both tropical and subtropical urban areas.
Worldwide, it is estimated to infect about 390 million people every year, with more than half of the global population now at risk.
Recent weeks have seen soaring cases in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, despite the peak season usually lasting from June to October. Reported cases in Singapore topped the 10,000 mark in the first five months of this year, already exceeding the 5,258 cases reported in all of 2021.
In Japan, 461 cases were reported in 2019 — mainly found in travelers from Asian countries. But with the borders effectively closed during the pandemic, the number of cases dropped to 43 and eight in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Dr. Le Van Be, director of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) in Nha Trang, Vietnam, is driven by a childhood encounter with rabies to improve the health outcomes of the people of Vietnam. Photo: PATH/Hai Trinh.
Dr. Le Van Be, director of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, believes in the power of vaccines. And he is committed to seeing locally made influenza vaccine become a reality. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam’s vaccine champion”
CVD 