Doctors treat a TB patient in the intensive care unit of the Central Pulmonary Tuberculosis Hospital in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Shortageof funding and trained personnel, as well as social discrimination, areundermining Vietnam’s hard-won success in combating the scourge oftuberculosis.
On the occasion of World TB Day 2017 (March 24) Nguyen VietNhung, director of the Hanoi-based Central Pulmonology Hospital that overseesover 60 lung disease hospitals around the country, provided an overview of thecountry’s efforts to control the world’s No 1 killer infectious disease and setout its ambitious goals.
Nhung, who is also head of thecountry’s national TB prevention and control programme, told the Vietnam NewsAgency that Vietnam ranked 15th among 30 countries with thehighest number of TB patients in the world. It also ranked 15th among30 countries with the biggest burden of multi drug-resistant TB in the world.
According to Nhung, Vietnam’s success in tuberculosis preventionhas been recognised internationally over the years. Each year, the countrydetects and provides treatment for 100,000 people with tuberculosis, with acure rate of over 90 percent for new cases.
Most of the new technologies applied in tuberculosis treatmentappear to be effective. However, the country faces a shortage of competenthealthcare providers, especially in disadvantaged remote areas, he said.
Funding was also an issue as Vietnam is estimated to need atleast 66 million USD to reduce the prevalence ofpatients with TB per 100,000 people from the current average of 112 to 20 by2030, essentially eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem.
But the national programme on TB prevention and control iscurrently funded at 26 million USD a year, including 19 million USD fromforeign aid, Nhung said.
Vietnam has also experienced an alarming rate of multi drug-resistanttuberculosis (TB), he said.
About 130,000 people are diagnosed in Vietnam with TB yearly, ofwhom about 7,000 have both TB and HIV, over 5,000 have multi drug-resistant TB,and about 300 patients have extensively drug-resistant TB.
Nhung said that the high rate of multi drug-resistant TB was theresult of patients’ failure to strictly follow doctors’ treatment regimes.“Skipping drugs or treatment also causes difficulties in TB prevention andcontrol for the community,” Nhung said.
Nhung said that TB patients were vulnerable to other infectiousdiseases like HIV. Most TB patients are poor, with little access to properunderstanding about the disease and measures to curb its spread.
Social discrimination has made TB patients hide their disease,compounding the problem, Nhung said.
At a conference early this year in HCM City, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan,head of the southern region’s national TB prevention and control office, saidthat an increase in the number of resistant TB cases has occurred in thesouthwestern region of the country.
Nearly 1,300 patients with such resistant TB were diagnosed everyyear in the southwestern region, accounting for 25 percent of the total numberin the country. Between 2011 and 2015, the prevalence of patients with TB per100,000 people in the region was 141.
At a meeting to mark the World TB Day held in HCM City on March 28,the head of the city’s Public Health Association, Le Truong Giang, said that aprogramme titled “Right Care” should be expanded across the city to betterdetect new TB patients or those with multi drug-resistant TB through newtesting techniques. The programme also focuses on detecting TB among children.
At a similar meeting held last week in northern Son La province,vice director of the province’s health department, Tran Van Ngoc, said that inthe mountainous disadvantaged province, a majority of TB patients were thebread-winners of poor families. “They found it hard to followsix-or-12-month-long treatment despite receiving free medicines,” Ngoc said.
More public communication and participation are needed to improveTB prevention and control, he said, adding that removing social discrimination overthe disease would help detection and cure.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB claims 5,000 liveseach day. The theme of World TB Day 2017 is “Unite to End TB.”
“TB strikes some of the world’s poorest people hardest,” said DrMargaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “WHO is determined to overcome the stigma,discrimination, and other barriers that prevent so many of these people fromobtaining the services they so badly need.” -VNA
On the occasion of World TB Day 2017 (March 24) Nguyen VietNhung, director of the Hanoi-based Central Pulmonology Hospital that overseesover 60 lung disease hospitals around the country, provided an overview of thecountry’s efforts to control the world’s No 1 killer infectious disease and setout its ambitious goals.
Nhung, who is also head of thecountry’s national TB prevention and control programme, told the Vietnam NewsAgency that Vietnam ranked 15th among 30 countries with thehighest number of TB patients in the world. It also ranked 15th among30 countries with the biggest burden of multi drug-resistant TB in the world.
According to Nhung, Vietnam’s success in tuberculosis preventionhas been recognised internationally over the years. Each year, the countrydetects and provides treatment for 100,000 people with tuberculosis, with acure rate of over 90 percent for new cases.
Most of the new technologies applied in tuberculosis treatmentappear to be effective. However, the country faces a shortage of competenthealthcare providers, especially in disadvantaged remote areas, he said.
Funding was also an issue as Vietnam is estimated to need atleast 66 million USD to reduce the prevalence ofpatients with TB per 100,000 people from the current average of 112 to 20 by2030, essentially eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem.
But the national programme on TB prevention and control iscurrently funded at 26 million USD a year, including 19 million USD fromforeign aid, Nhung said.
Vietnam has also experienced an alarming rate of multi drug-resistanttuberculosis (TB), he said.
About 130,000 people are diagnosed in Vietnam with TB yearly, ofwhom about 7,000 have both TB and HIV, over 5,000 have multi drug-resistant TB,and about 300 patients have extensively drug-resistant TB.
Nhung said that the high rate of multi drug-resistant TB was theresult of patients’ failure to strictly follow doctors’ treatment regimes.“Skipping drugs or treatment also causes difficulties in TB prevention andcontrol for the community,” Nhung said.
Nhung said that TB patients were vulnerable to other infectiousdiseases like HIV. Most TB patients are poor, with little access to properunderstanding about the disease and measures to curb its spread.
Social discrimination has made TB patients hide their disease,compounding the problem, Nhung said.
At a conference early this year in HCM City, Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan,head of the southern region’s national TB prevention and control office, saidthat an increase in the number of resistant TB cases has occurred in thesouthwestern region of the country.
Nearly 1,300 patients with such resistant TB were diagnosed everyyear in the southwestern region, accounting for 25 percent of the total numberin the country. Between 2011 and 2015, the prevalence of patients with TB per100,000 people in the region was 141.
At a meeting to mark the World TB Day held in HCM City on March 28,the head of the city’s Public Health Association, Le Truong Giang, said that aprogramme titled “Right Care” should be expanded across the city to betterdetect new TB patients or those with multi drug-resistant TB through newtesting techniques. The programme also focuses on detecting TB among children.
At a similar meeting held last week in northern Son La province,vice director of the province’s health department, Tran Van Ngoc, said that inthe mountainous disadvantaged province, a majority of TB patients were thebread-winners of poor families. “They found it hard to followsix-or-12-month-long treatment despite receiving free medicines,” Ngoc said.
More public communication and participation are needed to improveTB prevention and control, he said, adding that removing social discrimination overthe disease would help detection and cure.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB claims 5,000 liveseach day. The theme of World TB Day 2017 is “Unite to End TB.”
“TB strikes some of the world’s poorest people hardest,” said DrMargaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “WHO is determined to overcome the stigma,discrimination, and other barriers that prevent so many of these people fromobtaining the services they so badly need.” -VNA
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