Dengue Fever Kills 3 Vietnamese in Q1

Dengue fever affected 7,300 cases in Vietnam, killing three people in the first three months of this year, down 28% from a year earlier, said the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Health and Environment Department. The MoH was quoted by the state-run Vietnam News Agency by cautioning the disease is spreading in northern and central Vietnam with Danang City reporting 600 patients during the period, ten times higher than the same period of 2009. Meanwhile, Director of Hanoi’s preventive health center’s disease control department Le Duc Tuyen said the city recorded 100 dengue fever patients with one death during the period. The government has been implementing a target program since 2006 to raise skills of health workers across the country, said Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology’s Insect and Animal Department Tran Vu Phong. Last year, the government of Vietnam spent VND70 billion ($3.66 million) for the national anti-dengue fever program.