VCHC considers Dengue Patients mostly prone to malnutrition
DILI, 19 january 2022 (TATOLI) – Vera Cruz Health Center (VCHC) is considered Dengue Patients in Timor-Leste, mostly prone to malnutrition.
The Nutrition Coordinator at the Vera Cruz Community Health Center, Antonio da Cruz said, dengue fever is very dangerous, especially for children because it can cause malnutrition.
DHF is an infectious disease caused by the dengue virus with clinical manifestations of fever, bleeding (especially in the skin), Hepatomegaly, and failure of blood circulation.
“The malnutrition is not only caused by lack of nutritious food. Therefore also caused by diseases patients have, such as dengue. As their food intake decreases and this has an impact on their nutrition,” said Antonio at Vera Cruz Health Center on wednesday.
The dengue virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Many factors affect the severity, namely the immune status of each individual, the infecting virus strain or serotype, the patient’s age, the patient’s genetic background, and secondary dengue infection.
Especially in conditions of poor nutrition, all organs or systems in the body will decrease in function, including the immune system which causes impaired liver function.
Mr. Antonio emphasized that the solution to deal with dengue patients so that they don’t get malnourished is to ensure the nutritional intake that patients get during treatment.
Vera Cruz has prepared F75 and F100 drugs to treat DHF patients who are suffering from malnutrition.
He also asked the community, especially the patient’s family, to be able to maintain children’s food intake and ensure a clean environment to avoid mosquitoes carrying dengue disease.
The latest data on january 18, 2022, the number of dengue patients has reached 521 people and 9 fatality mostly are children.
From 2021 to 2022 Timor-Leste reported a total of 3000 dengue patients. 106 activated patients, 209 patients were cured and returned home.
On the other side, The Director of Dili Municipal Health Services, Agostinha Seguradu said, Dili municipality health center is coordinating with all food suppliers to ensure nutritious foods for children in all hospitals across Dili. It is a way to solve malnutrition for patients in Timor-Leste.
“We don’t just treat dengue fever but ensure that they have an adequate supply of nutrients so they don’t suffer from malnutrition because the incubation period for dengue fever is 14 days, and during that time they will lose a lot of fluids, causing serious nutritional problems,” he said.
Dili Municipality Health Center also received assistance from various partners such as UNICEF, DFAT and CVTL to provide milk and juice to children with dengue fever, we will distribute this to all health centers in Comoro, Metinaru, Ataúro, Formoza 1, Formoza 2 (Vera Cruz) and Becora.
WHO also reports that 1.8 billion (more than 70%) of the world’s population living in member countries of WHO, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific are at risk of developing dengue hemorrhagic fever and nearly 75% of the global disease burden. due to dengue hemorrhagic fever.
WHO estimates that around 2.5 billion people in 100 dengue endemic countries transmit the dengue virus so that 50 million infections occur every year with 500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and 22,000 deaths from children.
Outbreaks of dengue fever are the biggest health problem in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand which are in the equatorial zone and tropical season. Aedes aegypti is widespread in urban and rural areas, viral serotypes circulate and dengue fever is the leading cause of hospitalization and death in children.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Rafy Belo
