First report from the Asian Rotavirus Surveillance Network.

Rotavirus remains the most common cause of severe, dehydrating diarrhea among children worldwide. Several rotavirus vaccines are under development. Decisions about new vaccine introduction will require reliable data on disease impact. The Asian Rotavirus Surveillance Network, begun in 2000 to facilitate collection of these data, is a regional collaboration of 36 hospitals in nine countries or areas that conduct surveillance for rotavirus hospitalizations using a uniform World Health Organization protocol. We summarize the Network's organization and experience from August 2001 through July 2002. During this period, 45% of acute diarrheal hospitalizations among children 0-5 years were attributable to rotavirus, higher than previous estimates. Rotavirus was detected in all sites year-round. This network is a novel, regional approach to surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases. Such a network should provide increased visibility and advocacy, enable more efficient data collection, facilitate training, and serve as the paradigm for rotavirus surveillance activities in other regions.

Knowledge and practice of Dengue fever prevention of people in Qu?nh Mai commune -Hanoi at 2002

In the year 2002, an interview was conducted on 180 households, where women account for 67,2%, men 32,8%, mean age is 47 years old. Among the interviewers, 100% had known of the disease; 88,3% had known of the symptoms, 95% had known of the transmission route, 94% had thougth that the disease could be prevented, 60,9% had believed in health authorities in behaving as them, 51,5% had complied with health workers, 60,9% had believed in radio and TV. There was a relation of statistic significance between the knowledge and the practice of use of chemical mosquito killers, mosquito net, mosquito killing fish, the storage of water at home ,as well as the environment sanitation. In high educated people, knowledge and practice of prevent of hemorrhagic dengue/dengue fever were better than in low educated ones

Epidemiological surveillance of rota virus diarrhoea in Vietnam during the period from August 1998 to December 2002

Epidemiological surveillance of rota virus diarrhoea in Vietnam during the period from August 1998 to December 2002

Knowledge and practice on prevention of B Hepatitis among Pregnant Women in Cau Giay District, Ha Noi 2002

The study aims at description of awarness and practicr of B virus hepatitis control in 190 pregnant women in Cau Giay District, Ha Noi City, year 2002. It is a described horiziontal analytical in vestigation. Subjects were interviewed with structural questions. The data were analyzied by Epi-info 6.04 software and test X2 . Results showed a very low level of knowledge and practice skills. Influenced factors are educational level and professional skill as well as information resources. It must be recommended to promote the couselling at commune health station with concise messages. Further studies must be conducted in other districts in the city