VN013 International consultant on Dengue in Viet Nam

Background

Dengue continues to be a public health problem in Viet Nam. As of 12 June 2022, a total of 62,955 dengue cases have been reported in the country, including 37 deaths. Of the 37 deaths reported, 36 were from the Southern region including HCMC city (8), Bình Dương (8), Tây Ninh (5), Đồng Nai (5), Long An (3), Đồng Tháp (2), Tien Giang (2), Sóc Trăng (1), Bạc Liêu (1), Bình Phước (1), and one case from the Central-coastal province of Khanh Hoa. Compared with to the same time of 2021, the number of cases of 2022 increased by 97%, and the number of deaths increased 32 cases. Approximately 81% of the reported cases have been reported in the southern provinces. It is expected that the outbreak will continue to escalate and more provinces in other regions would observe increase in dengue cases in coming months as this time of the year is considered as the beginning of the outbreak season.

There have been several hypotheses for increasing the number of deaths due to dengue in the first half of 2022 compared with the same time of 2021 which include: (1) after more than two years of COVID-19 pandemic response, many health workers working in the area of infectious diseases have either shifted to other specialties or moved to private sector; (2) the professional capacity for early detection and treatment of local health care workers is limited including that from unexperienced clinicians, especially while having to dealt with many dengue cases that have been transferred or presented to hospital late and/or due to a wrong diagnosis with COVID-19 or other infectious diseases; (3) Lack of some medicines, treatment supplies for severe patients including those presented in a stage of dengue shock syndrome.

The Ministry of Health has developed and disseminated the guideline for diagnosis and treatment of dengue, and a Handbook for dengue management since 2019. The guideline and the handbook have been developed and adapted based on the previous guideline issued in 2012 and with some changes on clinical characteristics, epidemiologic situation and experience of Viet Nam. However, after more than 2 years of COVID-19, the current guideline and handbook need to be reviewed taking into account lessons learned from COVID-19 case management and  to meet the current situation of care pathways, especially on early recognition of warning signs of and treatment for severe dengue patients  for both adult and children patients.

It is utmost important for the health sector in urgently identify the underlying issues and challenges in dengue case management in order to minimize further dengue fatal cases and to reduce number of severe dengue patients among those hospitalized. To facilitate this urgent task, the WHO Viet Nam Country Office (WCO) is recruiting an international expert to support the MoH to conduct an assessment of the dengue fatal cases in 2022 and to review the current national guideline on diagnosis and treatment for dengue with the aim to improve case management outcomes.

Address for applications:
Administrative Officer
World Health Organization
UN Building, 304 Kim Ma Street, Hanoi, Viet Nam
Or by email at: wpvnmapplicants@who.int

Note: applicants should indicate vacancy notice number and title of position in the email subject