Red Cross Society volunteers participate in a city-wide communication campaign on dengue fever and hand, foot, and mouth disease prevention on July 3. Photo plo.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City chapter of the Việt Nam Red Cross Society in coordination with grassroots agencies in Thủ Đức City and 21 districts launched a city-wide communication campaign on dengue fever and hand, foot, and mouth disease prevention on Sunday.

Speaking at the launching event held in the city’s Bình Thạnh District, Dr. Nguyễn Hoàng Thiện Tâm, director of Bình Thạnh District’s Health Centre, said the communication activities would be carried out until year-end to educate residents on ways to prevent and protect against dengue fever and hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Residents need to do their part to stem the surge in dengue cases by regularly performing measures to prevent mosquito breeding and protect themselves from mosquito bites, Tâm said.

Following the launching event, Red Cross Society volunteers visited residential areas, boarding houses for workers and manufacturing facilities to encourage residents and stakeholders to take part in environmental cleaning to suppress the Aedes mosquito population.

Locals and businesses are encouraged to conduct cleaning at least once a week to prevent mosquitoes from breeding at home, in workplaces or in common spaces.

Residents are educated in ways to reduce the risk of infection with hand, foot, and mouth disease by frequent hand-washing with soap and water and cleaning the environment and easily contaminated items at home.

In the first six months of the year, the city recorded 21,750 dengue cases, an increase of 181.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the HCM City Centre for Disease Control.

During the period, more than 8,400 hand, foot, and mouth cases were reported. —VNS