With 13,100 people affected by the floods in Attapeu Province, and 6,000 people now living in emergency shelters, disease outbreaks are a worrying concern for the Ministry of Health.
Dr Bounkong Syhavong, Health Minister said “The most pressing health risks include potential outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases, dengue and malaria. Five thousand people have now used health services, so we will continue to collect data for disease surveillance daily. Enhanced surveillance was established with the eight Field Epidemiology Training graduates we have deployed to the shelters to monitor for potential diseases outbreak.”
There are thirteen evacuation centres; ten are accessible by road while another three remains accessible only by helicopter. The rapid assessment of evacuation centres accessible by road found the shelters overcrowded with insufficient water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and an expected surge in disease carrying mosquitoes. We have addressed these issues by working to improve water and sanitation facilities, and provided bed nets to families.
WHO Representative to Lao PDR, Dr Juilet Fleischl said “The ministry have set up an early warning system in Attapeu Province by sending epidemiologists to work with health staff in shelters, health centres and hospitals. They report daily on the 17 notifiable diseases and other potential outbreaks where cases are increasing but we have not seen clusters of cases yet. WHO have deployed ten staff and they are working alongside the eight Field Epidemiology Training students and graduates now in the field.”
The setup of an early warning system is recommended for the flooded areas so that any potential outbreaks can be investigated and contained immediately.The Ministry of Health with WHO support has also mapped out the location of international Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) from China, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam in the field for more efficient coordination and deployment. They will also feed into the early warning system. With this mapping, we can clearly identify the expert pool in the field and the areas where we may need additional resources.
The FET program is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the US Centers for Disease Control and WHO. Graduates and trainees from the program are often deployed to provide surge capacity to support outbreak response and investigation activities in the country. The program has played an important role in developing the surveillance and response capacity in Lao PDR. The applied nature of the training has equipped graduates with practical skills to respond to surveillance and outbreak investigation required in their daily work.
