Blue-ear pig disease spreads to 16 provinces and cities; Swine flu reoccurs in Vietnam: epidemiologist; 15 percent Vietnamese suffer from mental illness; Strange disease emerges again in northern province

Blue-ear pig disease spreads to 16 provinces and cities

On August 6 three more provinces, Vinh Long, Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa, reported having blue-ear pig disease, bringing the total number of infected provinces to 16.

Ho Chi Minh City has culled nearly 200 pigs which were suspected of being infected with the disease but its head of the Department of Animal Health, Hoang Van Nam, said on August 6 that the city is not listed as an affected locality because they did not actually detect the disease on pig farms.

As of August 5, more than 43,000 pigs had been infected with the disease, 22,000 of which had been culled.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan has directed localities to check on the vaccination of pigs.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has also requested that at least 80 percent of pigs should be vaccinated. It has also asked localities to set up checkpoints to prevent the illegal transportation of pigs.

The 16 hit provinces are: Nghe An, Cao Bang, Soc Trang, Quang Tri, Tien Giang, Lao Cai, Long An, Binh Duong, Bac Lieu, Quang Nam, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, Da Nang, Vinh Long, Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak.

Swine flu reoccurs in Vietnam: epidemiologist

Swine flu has reoccured in Vietnam, as there have been more cases, affirmed a health official at a press conference on August 6.

Mr. Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the Vietnam National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said since July 19, swine flu cases have been reported in the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Tien Giang and Ho Chi Minh City, including the fatality of a six-year-old girl a few days ago.

Mr. Hien said it needs to strengthen supervision on epidemiology to conclude whether the country would experience a fresh swine flu epidemic.

People with diabetes and high blood pressures, pregnant women and children under six should be careful because they are vulnerable to the disease.

Epidemiologists warned people with fevers, breathing problems and high risk groups should visit nearby hospitals for check that they do not have swine flu.

15 percent Vietnamese suffer from mental illness

Almost 15 percent of Vietnamese suffer mental illnesses, said a health official at a seminar on healthcare for psychiatric patients on August 6.

The National Psychiatric Hospital No.1 director La Duc Cuong said Vietnam currently has 12 million people experiencing psychiatric ailments, accounting for 14.9 percent of the country’s population.

He used the number of patients receiving treatment at the Psychiatric Hospital in the Mekong delta province of Tien Giang as an example. The number of those being treated has increased from 9,261 in 2008, to 9,559 in 2009.

Deputy director of the Psychiatric Hospital No.2, Bui The Khanh, reckoned that the most common psychiatric ailments in Vietnam are dementia praecox, depression, epilepsy, mental disorders resulting from traffic accidents or due to excessive drinking.

Blue ear sickness occurs in HCMC

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) – also called “Blue Ear” – has occurred in pigs in Ho Chi Minh City, warned a health official on August 5.

Phan Xuan Thao, head of HCMC Animal Health Department, said pigs in some households in district 12 were found to have the virus; therefore, 194 pigs were destroyed to curb the disease from spreading. Breeding farms in district Cu Chi are at high risk for contracting the disease.

The city liaised with neighboring southern provinces Dong Nai and Binh Duong to test pigs from other provinces. If vets find pigs to be unsafe, the city would stop diseased pigs from entering the city, Mr. Thao said.

The southern province of Binh Phuoc claimed tests proved 72 pigs in district Bu Dang had contracted the disease, said deputy head of the province’s Animal Health Department Tran Van Phuong. The province had killed 30 pigs before.

Quang Nam authorities are pleading for help as spread of the disease has already become rampant, wiping out many herds in the province’s districts Dai Loc and Dien Ban. 9793 pigs were infected with the disease and vets destroyed 2,572.

Meanwhile, the highlands province of Dak Lak discovered seven outbreaks of blue ear in pigs in districts Ea Kar, Krong Pach and Buon Me Thuot City.

The government will provide each breeder who has lost their pigs to the epidemic with VND25,000 for each kilo of meat lost.

Strange disease emerges again in northern province

A deadly disease temporarily called “te te, say say” (the beriberi, a nervous system ailment caused by thiamine deficiency) has resurfaced in Binh Chan Commune, Lac Son District in the northern province of Hoa Binh, said a health official on August 4.

The disease has infected 130 residents since the end of July, according to Dr. Quach Dinh Thong, director of Hoa Binh’s Department of Health.

The disease first emerged in the province in 1999, infecting 52 people four of whom died. In three successive years from 2005-2007, 182 persons contracted te te say say, including 19 fatalities.

For years, the Ministry of Health, relevant agencies and medical experts have researched the disease, but its cause remains unknown. Patients are currently given vitamin B1, as experts believe the disease may be caused by vitamin B deficiencies.

Distributor may face fines for exaggerating benefits of product

Hanoi health inspectors made an unscheduled visit to Tu Chinh Duong, the distributor of Tam Nao Khang, following public concern over that the health supplement merely supports sufferers of cerebrovascular and heart diseases, rather than cures these ailments as the distributor has claimed.

Inspection chief Nguyen Viet Cuong said the inspection team seized some products to test the quality and ordered the distributor not to exaggerate the benefits of Tam Nao Khang, as well as not to issue leaflets falsely advertising the product’s usefulness.

Recently, people in newly built residential quarters in Hanoi have received leaflets about Tam Nao Khang, advertising it as a China’s traditional medicine to treat many heart diseases and prevent cerebrovascular accidents. The leaflet even describes a Chinese man regaining his health after taking the product for one year, after being gravely ill before that.

The shop on 33 Nguyen Trai in Hanoi, Tu Chinh Duong, displays the nutritional product at the cost of VND3.6 million per 300-tablet package. The shop assistant still claims that sick persons would feel better after using for less than two months.

Health inspectors promised to impose penalties on the shop, as exaggerating a product’s usefulness violates the law.

Ethnic minority girls receive educational support

Exemplary girls from 24 ethnic minority groups all over the country gathered in the UNESCO-recognized natural heritage site of Hoi An, from August 3-5, for the launch of the Brighter Path scholarship program.

The scholarship program is a collaboration between the Vu A Dinh scholarship organization and the VinaCapital Foundation (VCF). It will support these students through three years of high school and four years of college.

The program launch began with the first annual “Dream Meeting,” which consisted of series of workshops to mentor and encourage the girls to have big dreams and goals and give them the tools to succeed. The girls were also treated to fun outings to ancient Hoi An town and My Son.

The meeting was held at the Hoi An River Beach Resort and attended by former Vice-President of Vietnam and Chairwoman of Vu A Dinh, Madame Truong My Hoa; VCF’s CEO and Executive Director Robin King Austin; and others.

The VinaCapital Foundation (VCF) and Vu A Dinh are proud to partner on this innovative partnership to help educate ethnic minority girls, one of the most disadvantaged groups in Vietnam. An initial donation of $13,500, which will fund the first year of scholarships for the 50 girls, was provided by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CanCham), and was matched 100 percent by the VinaCapital Group. The Golden Light Investment Trading Company is also donating one percent of their annual sales to support the scholarship program.

A Brighter Path is designed to provide hope for a brighter future and to break the poverty cycle for ethnic minority girls in Vietnam. To be eligible for the program, all students must be members of one of Vietnam’s ethnic minority groups, have demonstrated academic excellence, and come from families living at or below the national poverty line ($13 per capita per month).

Japan hands over funds to build new primary school

A signing ceremony took place yesterday between the Government of Japan and the People’s Committee of An Vien Commune to build a primary school in Tien Lu District of the northern province Hung Yen.

Japanese Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba handed over US$90,842 to Do Ngoc Thanh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of An Vien Commune on August 4 at the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam.

An Vien Commune Primary School has no solid classrooms due to local socio-economic constraints and has borrowed rooms from the commune’s temple and nearby secondary school.

However, the temple’s rooms are also seriously degraded, and have no lighting systems, making it dark inside even during daytime, which affects the health and safety of pupils. In the secondary school, primary pupils and secondary pupils are learning half a day only, which is inadequate. Meanwhile, their parents’ average annual income is US$418; the commune’s poverty rate is 19 percent; therefore, they cannot financially support renovations the school requires.

Under this circumstance, the People’s Committee of An Vien Commune planned to construct a new six-classroom building. The Government of Japan decided to grant the aid necessary to purchase materials for the project.

At the ceremony, Ambassador Sakaba expressed his hopes that the educational environment in An Vien Commune would improve markedly and further the friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and Vietnam.

Over 90 million textbooks prepared for new school year

The Education Publishing House will publish about 90 million textbooks designed for students in grades 1 to 12, to prepare for the new school year 2010-2011, scheduled to start August 20.

Vu Ba Hoa, director of the publishing house Ho Chi Minh City, said on August 3 that 80 million books have been delivered to provinces and cities so far.

With the number of new books published this year and over 45 percent of old books remaining in circulation, students throughout the country will have enough books for the new school year.

Prices of textbooks, reprinted books and some types of reference books will remain unchanged compared to last year prices. Additionally, students will receive a 10 percent discount on books purchased during publishing month.

The publishing house has also coordinated with HCMC Committee of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the city Department of Education and Training to collect hundreds of thousands of old textbooks to present to poor students in remote areas.

They have also given 70,000 sets of new textbooks to children of martyrs and wounded soldiers.

In the last three years, the number of students using old textbooks has increased. The ratio is 10-15 percent at primary schools, 30 percent at secondary schools and 50-60 percent at high schools.

Koreans provide support for Vietnamese brides

Republic of Korea businesses and the Korean community in Ho Chi Minh City have raised 234 million VND to help Vietnamese brides return home and re-establish themselves in Vietnam after their marriages to Korean men have broken down.

The sum will be used in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho , where more than 3,000 women have married Korean men since 2008, many of them returning home due to broken marriages.

RoK Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Kim Sang Yoon, on August 5, handed over the donations to Can Tho’s Women’s Union and met with Can Tho’s authorities.

He expressed his regret over the death of Thach Thi Hoang Ngoc, also from Can Tho, who was killed by her 47-year-old mentally-ill husband in July, only eight days after she had arrived in the RoK.

He said the relevant RoK agencies are currently investigating the case while the RoK government is taking measures to protect the safety of the 35,000 Vietnamese brides who reside in the country.

The Consul General has consulted with several Vietnamese agencies, including Can Tho’s authorities, to draw up effective solutions to ensure that partners in Vietnamese-Rok marriages are happy and treated equally.

Kim also mentioned that funding of 5 million USD will be provided to set up a vocational training centre in Can Tho City.

The centre will provide life skills training for women going to the RoK, including classes on the RoK’s language, culture, customs, laws and basic rights, for Vietnamese women who will get married to RoK men.

PV