WHO praises nation’s fast reaction to diarrhoea outbreak

World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Representative in Viet Nam says the country reacted rapidly and accurately against the recent acute diarrhoea disease.

WHO’s Dr Jean-Marc Olive said that soon after outbreak of the disease, Viet Nam’s healthcare sector quickly identified the cause and worked out effective treatment to ensure there were no fatalities from the disease.

At an acute diarrhoea assessment meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday, WHO experts and the Vietnamese Health Ministry reported that recent outbreaks in Viet Nam were due to bad food hygiene and safety.

WHO urged the Government to promote five measures to ensure food safety, including personal hygiene, separating cooked and uncooked food, preserving food at safe temperatures and using safe water.

Preventive Medicine Department director Nguyen Huy Nga told the meeting the number of newly infected patients has decreased, but the country is currently caring for 2,490 acute diarrhoea patients in 20 provinces and cities, including 377 patients who tested positive to the cholera bateria.

Three provinces and cities have not detected any new acute diarrhea cases and are waiting to be dropped from the list of localities affected by the disease. They include Quang Binh and Phu Tho provinces and HCM City.

Eateries closed down

Five new teams of health inspectors have closed 63 unhygienic restaurants and shops in Ha Noi and neighbouring Ha Dong during the past week.

The closures followed the check of 100 mostly dog-meat shops.

The teams, from the Health Ministry and municipal agencies, closed four of five dog meat shops in Nhat Tan Street, Tay Ho.

The inspectors say they found dirty chopping boards; unwashed vegetables and shrimp sauce in dirty containers.

The inspectors say flies and dirty chopping boards were also found in the kitchens of many other restaurants in Trung Hoa Street, Cau Giay District.

Another 23 dog butchers were closed in La Duong Street, Ha Dong, where the animals are often delivered from cities and provinces throughout Viet Nam without a veterinary check.

Food Hygiene and Safety Department’s director Tran Dang said more closures are likely as the inspectors continue their work.

Many of the shops had previously been ordered closed but opened the day after the inspectors visited.

This had also happened with numerous premises closed by the Ha Noi Health Department.

The inspectors made the decision to close the shops but its enforcement was the task of local officials who clearly knew about the shops because they collected tax from them.

The Ha Noi Health Department estimates that about 60 per cent of the city’s restaurants and food shops do not have hygiene and safety certificates.

Source: VNS