Many livestock farmers lack awareness of disease prevention, making it difficult to control diseases.

In mid-April 2025, Ms. CTH (Trung Doai village, Cam Duong commune, Cam Xuyen district) discovered that the sow in the pen had a high fever, stopped eating, and had a rash. Instead of reporting to the local authorities, Ms. H. bought medicine to treat it herself.

“Because I was so sorry for the loss, I wanted to try treatment. But after more than 4 days, I saw that the disease did not improve, so I reported it to the commune veterinary office for support in destroying it. When taking samples for testing, the veterinary agency determined that the pigs were infected with African swine fever (ASF),” Ms. H. shared.

Currently, DTLCP is occurring in 8 communes and 52 villages of Cam Xuyen district.

Currently, the situation of people delaying reporting epidemics, arbitrarily treating or hiring veterinarians to inject drugs at home is still quite common. According to Ms. Phan Thi Xoan - an officer in charge of agriculture in Cam Duong commune (Cam Xuyen), from December 2024 to now, ASF has occurred continuously, causing more than 140 pigs to be destroyed with a total weight of nearly 18 tons. Despite increased propaganda, many people are still hesitant to declare the epidemic. In particular, people are still reluctant to vaccinate their sows, causing the resistance of livestock to decrease sharply, making it easier for the disease to penetrate.

Not only are they slow to report, many households also hide the epidemic and manually dispose of dead pigs, which does not meet technical standards, potentially causing environmental pollution and spreading pathogens.

In Luu Vinh Son commune (Thach Ha), when ASF outbreaks appeared, since the beginning of the year, authorities discovered a number of households burying dead pigs in vacant lots, without lime, without chemical treatment, and the burial pits were not secure.

Cam Duong Commune (Cam Xuyen) reviews households affected by DTLCP in the area.

Mr. Bui Cong Thu - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Luu Vinh Son Commune (Thach Ha) said: "The epidemic mainly occurs in small households with a few animals, so people are still subjective. The management area of ​​the commune is relatively large, so reporting the epidemic depends a lot on the self-awareness of the farmers. However, at present, some households still hide the epidemic, mishandle the process when the animals die, causing difficulties in control."

While the government is trying to control the epidemic, some people are behaving irresponsibly, blatantly throwing dead animals into canals and ditches. In just 1 month (February - March 2025), Thach Tri commune ( Ha Tinh city) discovered two cases of dead pigs floating on the N9 canal through the area with a total weight of more than 3.5 tons. "This is a downstream canal, so it is not excluded that the pig carcasses were thrown from the upstream area. People arbitrarily throwing dead pigs indiscriminately not only pollute the environment but also increase the risk of spreading disease in the locality", Mr. Nguyen Van Ninh - Vice Chairman of Thach Tri Commune People's Committee emphasized.

Decomposing pigs were discovered on the N9 canal on February 21, 2025.

The lack of cooperation of the people in disease prevention work not only causes the epidemic to persist but also puts great pressure on the local authorities, both in terms of human resources and funding. When the epidemic breaks out, communes, wards and towns must mobilize many forces to investigate, collect samples, destroy, spray disinfectants, and treat the environment. During peak periods, many localities also have to mobilize militia and self-defense forces, part-time cadres and even mechanical vehicles to destroy pigs and organize large-scale disinfection.

Not only economic losses, the consequences of late reporting and concealing the epidemic also increase the risk of spreading the epidemic to other localities, disrupting the epidemic control process in the whole region. Mr. Truong Xuan Binh - Director of Minh Loc Livestock Cooperative (Cam Minh Commune, Cam Xuyen) shared: "As a large-scale livestock facility, every time an epidemic occurs in the area, we are very worried, have to strengthen control, disinfection, and isolation. The cost of epidemic prevention (medicines, chemicals, labor) can increase 2-3 times compared to normal times".

Ha Tinh City often has to mobilize a lot of human resources to handle pigs infected with ASF.

According to the industry, in recent times, in Ha Tinh, dangerous diseases such as ASF, foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease in cattle, etc. have mainly occurred in small-scale farms that do not ensure biosafety.

In addition to objective causes such as unfavorable weather, viruses and bacteria that mutate and persist in the environment, it is necessary to recognize that the subjective and negligent mentality of livestock farmers in disease prevention work also causes the disease to appear quickly and spread widely. In many places, people still rely on and wait for the government; do not comply with regular vaccination, do not proactively disinfect barns; when livestock show signs of illness, they hide the disease or report it late, making the control work passive;...

Specialized sector guides disease prevention and vaccination in livestock and poultry.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam - Head of the Veterinary Department (Department of Crop Production and Livestock of the province) said that according to the 2018 Law on Livestock, livestock breeders play a central role in disease prevention. Livestock breeders are responsible for strictly implementing the regulations: promptly detecting and reporting when there are signs of disease; not hiding the disease, not selling, not spreading the disease; strictly following the instructions of the veterinary agency when an epidemic occurs. At the same time, regularly care for and monitor livestock, fully vaccinate all types of vaccines; maintain hygiene of barns, periodically disinfect; control entry and exit to livestock areas;...

In the context of the unpredictable developments of livestock and poultry diseases, the functional sectors and authorities at all levels are making efforts to intervene with many synchronous measures. However, if livestock farmers do not change their mindset and still consider disease prevention as the State's job, not their responsibility, the disease will continue to persist and be difficult to control.

Video: Local authorities destroy pigs infected with ASF.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nhieu-ho-chan-nuoi-thieu-y-thuc-phong-chong-dich-benh-kho-kiem-soat-post287767.html