The Vietnamese government has assigned the health ministry to build a national strategy on malaria prevention by 2020, with further development by 2030, under which it aims to eliminate the disease by 2030, the government said on its website. Under the plan, up to 95% of malaria patients will get medical treatment properly by 2015 and the rate will be 98% by 2020, while the infection and death rate is expected to be 0.15 per 1,000 people and 0.02 per 100,000 people by 2020, respectively. The strategy will focus on abolishing the disease in at least 40 localities by 2020 in a move to provide better healthcare services for local residents as well as contribute to socioeconomic development of the country. The number of malaria patients has decreased considerably thanks to Vietnam’s malaria prevention program in recent years which become part of the national target program on preventing social and serious diseases like HIV/AIDS. In 2010, the Southeast Asian country reported 20 deaths out of 53,876 people affected by malaria, the ministry’s statistics showed. (baodientu.chinhphu.vn Feb 24)
