Geographical Characteristics of the Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta encompasses 13 Việt Nam provinces: Cần Thơ, An Giang, Đồng Tháp, Long An, Tiền Giang, Vĩnh Long, Bến Tre, Trà Vinh, Sóc Trăng, Hậu Giang, Bạc Liêu, Cà Mau, and Kiên Giang. Bordering Cambodia to the west, it is directly adjacent to the East Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Given these geographical features, the region plays a pivotal role in the maritime transportation of passengers and cargo, as well as being enormously productive agriculturally and aquaculturally (Garschagen et al., 2012). However, these interrelated factors make the Mekong Delta very prone to trans-boundary transmission of malaria (Trung et al., 2004; Suwonkerd et al., 2013; Geng et al., 2019). Hence, the risk of introducing drug-resistant parasites and insecticide-resistant mosquito vectors and thereby of re-establishing the foothold the disease has maintained in the region is ever present.

Despite its geographical diversity, the Mekong Delta is predominantly blanketed by flat plains. The forest coverage of this region, 7.7%, is also the lowest nationally and concentrated mainly in the southernmost parts, especially Cà Mau and Kiên Giang provinces (General Statistics Office of Việt Nam, 2012). Due to the tropical climate and a high level of salinization, mangrove forests and swamps cover most habitats of this terrain. An awareness of these features is critical to understanding the epidemiology of malaria in the Mekong Delta.