A solid foundation for regional preventive medicine

After more than half a century of construction and development, with a team of dedicated scientists, an increasingly modern equipment system and important contributions to disease prevention and control, the Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology is the leading institute in the region, an important satellite in the system of Hygiene and Epidemiology Institutes - Pasteur of the whole country, under the Ministry of Health.

After the country's reunification, the Central Highlands was still covered with war wounds, and people's lives were still difficult. In response to the urgent need to protect public health, in October 1975, following the direction of Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, Minister of Health Vu Van Can signed a decision to establish the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Malaria - the predecessor of the present-day Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. This event marked a special milestone in the journey of health care for ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.

In the early days, the Institute had only a few staff members and lacked facilities. However, with the spirit of overcoming difficulties and the will to contribute, the staff laid the foundation for an important preventive medicine unit in the region.

Director of the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Vien Chinh Chien said that after half a century of construction and development, the Institute has made its mark with many outstanding achievements. From the work of preventing and fighting plague and cholera, diseases that once caused terror in the Central Highlands, the region has now eliminated plague (since 2003) and stopped the circulation of cholera (since 1996). Infectious diseases such as dengue fever, diphtheria, measles, etc. have been monitored, localized and controlled effectively. The Institute is also the core force in the expanded immunization program, bringing vaccines to remote areas, contributing to the eradication of polio and the elimination of neonatal tetanus.

The Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology supervises measles vaccination for children in the area.

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology continued to assert its frontline role. Hundreds of staff were sent to support the Central Highlands provinces and Tay Ninh province during the tense epidemic period. The Institute proactively built SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity. By 2022, the entire region had 17 laboratories with a capacity of more than 50,000 samples/day, contributing to controlling the epidemic and maintaining medical safety.

In the field of nutrition and public health, the Institute has helped reduce the rate of malnutrition in children under 5 years old from over 40% (in the 1990s) to about 18 - 20% today; the rate of vitamin A intake is over 95%. The models of malnutrition prevention and control are highly appreciated by UNICEF and WHO.

Environmental health monitoring is maintained regularly, analyzing more than 3,000 air, soil, and water samples each year; monitoring 1,500 domestic water samples at centralized water supply works. The Institute also coordinates with the education sector to monitor school health, ensuring safe learning and living conditions for students. At the same time, the Institute promotes monitoring of occupational health and non-communicable diseases; monitoring more than 200 labor facilities each year, and simultaneously deploying a chronic disease management model at the commune level, bringing practical results.

In 2008, the Institute established the Central Highlands Food Safety Testing Center, meeting ISO/IEC 17025 standards (VILAS 476), with the capacity to test more than 3,000 samples/year, contributing to food safety monitoring and investigating the causes of poisoning.

On the development journey, the Institute has continuously expanded international cooperation with WHO, CDC USA, UNICEF, JICA... to access new technology, improve staff capacity and implement many important projects. Along with that, logistics, vaccination services and testing activities continue to be strengthened, affirming its position as the leading preventive medicine center in the Central Highlands and the whole country.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, in the context of the country entering a period of comprehensive innovation, implementing the resolutions of the Central Committee and the Politburo on science and technology development, innovation, digital transformation and public health care, the health sector in general and the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in particular are facing many new opportunities and challenges. Infectious diseases are still latent, climate change and environmental pollution are complicated, and the demand for health care is increasingly high and diverse.

“In the current period, the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology holds a particularly important responsibility in the cause of disease prevention, protection and health care for people in the region and the whole country.”

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong

Meanwhile, the Central Highlands is a region with a large terrain, a dispersed population, many ethnic minorities; a unique climate and ecological conditions, favorable for the circulation of many infectious diseases and parasites. As a gateway for trade with Laos and Cambodia, with a long border and international border gates, this region always has the potential risk of cross-border epidemics. Along with that, the process of socio-economic development and large population movements make disease surveillance and control many challenges.

The Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology received the Emulation Flag awarded by the Ministry of Health.

Identifying increasingly high task requirements, Director of the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Vien Chinh Chien said that in the coming time, the Institute will maintain and develop organic relationships with the system of preventive institutes nationwide and internationally, with provincial disease control centers and grassroots medical networks in disease prevention and control activities...

The Institute always absorbs and applies high technology and new perspectives in building and maintaining laboratories that meet ISO 17025; 15189 standards... to improve working conditions and labor safety; further enhance the ability to respond to emerging epidemics, control endemic diseases such as dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease. At the same time, the Institute is also ready to implement new activities on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, determined to become one of the leading units in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases for the community.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202510/diem-tua-vung-chac-cho-y-te-du-phong-khu-vuc-e381606/