Gyeonggi Province Holds Health Directors Meeting for Northern Region

Gyeonggi Province held a health directors meeting on the 31st at the situation room of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government's Northern Complex with the Gyeonggi Infectious Disease Management Support Team and 13 health centers from 10 cities and counties in the northern region to discuss infectious disease management related to tick and mosquito-borne diseases.

Tick-borne infectious diseases occurring domestically include scrub typhus, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), and Lyme disease, while mosquito-borne infectious diseases include malaria and Japanese encephalitis.

The meeting addressed prevention measures for tick and mosquito-borne infectious diseases as tick-borne infectious diseases such as SFTS have recently increased, the activity period of chiggers that transmit scrub typhus (September to November) has arrived, and mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as malaria are prevalent particularly in the northern Gyeonggi region.

The meeting aimed to improve work efficiency by sharing best practices among cities and counties, and to improve pest control methods as tick control measures are more difficult than other infectious diseases. With the Chuseok holiday in October expected to increase outdoor activities such as ancestral grave visits and travels, it was decided to strengthen guidance on preventive measures against vector-borne infectious diseases during outdoor activities.