Vietnam will set up an early warning system of infectious diseases related to climate change, a health official has said.

Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Health Environmental Management Department under the Health Ministry, said at the fourth Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on November 21.

He said the country will also focus on identifying regions most vulnerable to climate change and establishing early warning and supervisory systems of climate change.

Vietnam wants to work with countries and organisations in the region and the world at large in preventing and controlling diseases related to climate change, the official said.

Le Vu Anh, President of the Vietnam Public Health Association, said plans to mitigate impacts of climate change will be built based on scientific reports presented at the conference.

The November 21-22 conference was organised by the Vietnam Public Health Association and the World Federation of Public Health Associations with the participation of 300 delegates from 32 countries.

The conference will hear reports on managing health risks, people’s vulnerability to climate change, climate change and its impacts on South Asian people’s health, and ecological factors decisive to human health.

Climate change and public health in Asia-Pacific in the future will also be tabled at a plenary session.

On this occasion, the organisation board made public the English-language “Vietnam Journal of Public Health” which provides information about public health research and activities of Vietnam and the world.

Source: VNA