The Australian Aid Program, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and Pacific (AFAP) today April 22 announce the successful completion of a Dengue Safe Water Project in the Mekong Delta.
“Vietnam experiences more than 75,000 cases of dengue a year, most of these occurring in the south of the country. With no vaccine available, mosquito control is the only option currently available to prevent the spread of this viral disease”, said Mr Simon Kutcher, AFAP Project Manager. “Conventional insecticide use is considered by many to be unsuitable or unacceptable in many circumstances, so more innovative approaches are required to tackle this severe annual epidemic”.
The VND85 billion Australian government funded Dengue Safe Water Project is one such approach that has had outstanding success in reducing the risk of dengue fever. Starting in 2005, the five-year project aims to ensure that water is not used as a breeding ground by mosquitoes that can spread diseases.
According to Mr Kerry Groves, AusAID Vietnam Counsellor, Australia is proud to have contributed to the development of the Mekong Delta in various ways. This dengue safe water project shows our long-term commitment to improving the health and living conditions of people in the Mekong Delta - which is important to socio-economic development of the whole country.
The project developed a mosquito control strategy, incorporating four elements: an integrative approach that depends on community understanding and participation; prioritized control according to the larval productivity of major habitat types; use of the naturally-occurring crustacean Mesocyclops that eat mosquito larvae as a biological control agent; and community activities of health volunteers, schools and the public. The Ministry of Health through the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City implements the project. Project activities are driven by community committees, health collaborators, schoolteachers and pupils. About 50 houses are inspected each month, education messages delivered, and any suspected dengue cases reported to the communal health centre by these collaborators. They also assist with periodic clean-up campaigns and with the distribution of Mesocyclops. School children’s activities vary by commune, but all have included clean-up campaigns of discarded containers, providing household support to the aged and infirm, and participating in dengue or project-oriented plays, songs, and quiz nights. The project operates in 12 communes inside the three Mekong Delta provinces of Vinh Long, Long An and Ben Tre. Results from these communes have demonstrated that the use of Mesocyclops can reduce mosquito populations by 98% in 9 of the 12 communes, with the other 3 communes reporting at least 80% control. More importantly, dengue risk has been mitigated in all 12 communes, protecting some 90,000 people.
