Illustrative image (Source: VNA) According to Tran Dac Phu, Director of the ministry’s Preventive HealthDepartment, the recurrence of epidemics can be attributed to several factorsincluding climate change, environmental pollution, emergence of new virusstrains, increasing population and changing lifestyles.
Emerging diseases include malnutrition, stress, insomnia, loss of appetite,dizziness, headaches and infectious diseases, which become prominent when thetemperature increases.
According to studies presented at a recent conference on climate change andenvironmental health during the integration period, elderly and children aremore vulnerable to changes in the weather.
For example, in the Mekong Delta region, the number of children hospitalizedwith digestion and respiratory infections increases by around 3.4 per cent whenthe temperature goes up by one degree Celsius.
In Thai Nguyen, people suffering from cardiovascular problems are at high riskof being hospitalised when the temperature falls by one degree Celsius.
Cases of diarrhoea also increase with changes in the weather, the studies found.
In Vietnam, rising seawater levels, temperature increases and changes inrainfall all are favorable conditions for mosquitoes to reproduce and transmitdiseases, according to the Environmental Management Department under the MoH.
Dengue is a seasonal disease which is seen mostly in the Mekong Delta in thesouth of Vietnam. However, recent surveys found that dengue fever tends toappear year round and in northern provinces as well. Some tropical diseaseshave disappeared in many countries around the world, but are growing in VietNam, like tuberculosis, dengue and malaria.
In an alarming projection, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)has warned that a population of 1.5 billion to 3.5 billion people could facethe risk of being afflicted by dengue by 2080 as a result of global warming.
According to the WHO, climate change has a close relationship with thedevelopment of infectious diseases. As a rule, after natural calamities, theenvironment suffers major disturbances. Heavily contaminated water sources areone of the main causes of the outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness and otherdiseases spread by water sources.
It says that heat waves, occurring with increasing frequency and with higherintensity, will increase the risk of thermal shock, stroke and myocardialinfarction, and increase morbidity and mortality, especially among the poor,elderly and children. The impact on human health caused by heat wavesshould be a major concern of the country’s health care sector.
Vietnam is working hard with the international community to implement an actionplan to respond to climate change.
Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, Director of the MoH’s Environmental ManagementDepartment, said solutions to deal with climate change should be continuouslyimplemented by building an early warning system for disease outbreaks.
In addition, the building and implementation of models that provide healthservices in response to natural disasters caused by climate change should beimproved, especially in affected regions, she said.-VNA
VNA
