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  • North Korea - Update on H1N1

    Research Institute For North Korean Society
    North Korea Today No. 325 Full Version January 2010



    Excerpt:

    [Society]

    Sariwon, Eighteen Died from H1N1 Flu

    According to the report submitted to the City and County Party, eighteen died from H1N1 flu 2009 in Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province in December. Authorities in Public Health are focusing on sterilizing schools, day-care centers and kindergartens before starting a new semester in order to prevent children from getting the flu. The mortality rate is relatively low in economically stable households while medicine misuse and abuse is increasing in poor households. Due to the inflation after the currency reform, the parents let their children take cheap medicine which causes side effects and even death. Children with high fever and headache are suffering from hunger without proper treatment, shivering with cold in houses without heating system. According to a healthcare provider, even though the situation in North Hwanghae Province is better than North Pyongan Province, they should be on the lookout for the flu because it is spreading very fast."


    Sinuiju Begins to Provide Flu Treatment <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

    Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province has begun to provide flu treatment from December 25, 2009. Doctors are offering tablets to those who had a contact with the H1N1 flu patients while giving injection to or prescribing medicine for the patients. However, the health authorities do not relax their attention because the number of the patients has not decreased. Recently, four patients with H1N1 flu have died in Sinuiju People's Hospital. In particular, the death rate of children and those who are over late fifties is high. A physician said "Children and seniors cannot recover from the flu due to their physical weakness and lack of immunity. They suffer from the illness and die. Even though we received medicine from the UN, it is still lacking. It is difficult to purchase medicine on the market due to the extremely high price."

    Central Party Issued the Third Order with Criticism about ?Taking Measures for H1N1.?

    H1N1 is gradually spreading from North Pyongan Province to southern areas. According to the Health Department officials, more patients have been reported in inner land areas such as North and South Hwanghae Provinces than in northern areas. H1N1 is known as a new type of flu to North Koreans, and its spreading does not seem to decrease. Accordingly, last December 30, the officials of the Health Department and the Emergency Disease Control Center held a meeting ?to prevent and eradicate H1N1 from North Korea.? For the first time this year, the Central Party sent the Health Department officials an order with criticism about ?preparing definitive measures to treat H1H1 patients.? Two orders with criticism were already issued in December last year and this is the third.

    Families Concerned about Ban on Family Visits at the Re-education Center

    The Re-education Center in South Pyongan Province prohibited family visits in an effort to control the outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus. People who have families in the Re-education and Labor Training Centers are concerned that their loved ones may suffer from hunger and severe weather due to inadequate provisions available at these centers. Families will do anything to supply their relatives with the necessities needed to survive; however, even before the prohibition, families were prohibited from directly delivering the goods to their kin at these centers and consequently, were not able to confirm whether the supplies have been properly delivered. ?[People in the centers] would die from starvation and the cold before dying from H1N1,? which is a concern that resonated with many families with relatives at these centers. Meanwhile, as H1N1 continued to spread, the levels of restriction also began to increase. As the elderly became among the most affected by the flu virus, some asylums for the aged in South Pyongan Province blocked entrances and strictly regulated the admission of people into the center. Healthy people among the staffs were chosen to take care of the old. A complete ban on visitation is in effect at re-education centers in South Pyongan Province.

    [“Good Friends” aims to help the North Korean people from a humanistic point of view and publishes “North Korea Today” describing the way th...
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