At the event (Photo courtesy of the US Embassy in Vietnam)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) and USAID on December15 expanded the Ministry of Health/NTP’s “Double X” Strategy for tuberculosis(TB) case identification in a bid to wipe out this respiratory disease in Vietnamby 2030.
DoubleX is a new strategy to diagnose TB using chest X-rays and GeneXpert, adiagnostic method that detects TB bacteria.
Atan event entitled “Health Partnerships to End TB in Vietnam - Applying the“Double X” Strategy held on December 15 in Hanoi, participants shared keyachievements and lessons in implementing the Strategy, including keyachievements of the NTP toward TB goals; outcomes from USAID Sustainable HIVand TB Responses from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) activity on the Double-XStrategy in seven provinces in Vietnam, experiences from provincial TBprogrammes; and multi-faceted TB strategies using Double X from internationalorganisations.
Vietnamranks 11th among the 30 countries that account for nearly 90 percent ofthe world’s TB burden. It is also one of the most common communicable diseasesin the country.
Eachyear, it is estimated that 170,000 people become sick from TB in Vietnam, butonly around 100,000 are accounted for in the National TB system, leaving around50,000 community TB cases undiagnosed, and the remaining 20,000 diagnosed butnot reported.
DeputyMinister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said the country has made encouragingachievements in the fight against TB, especially the fact that it couldsuccessfully treat 92 percent of first-time TB patients, 75-80 percent ofthe patients with multidrug resistant TB with short-term treatment while theglobal figure is about 56 percent.
Thenumber of TB patients is on a gradual downtrend, with a decline of only 4 percenta year, according to Tuyen, who said the national programme should maximise theuse of existing tools in diagnosing and treating TB with universal healthinsurance; while at the same time, expanding the application of newidentification tools, new drugs and vaccines, with the help of partners both inand outside the country.
ProfessorNguyen Viet Nhung, chair of the national programme on fighting TB, said justlike COVID-19, TB infection incidents need to be detected as soon as possibleso risks of transmission in the community are reduced and the hospitalisationfor the patients themselves would be shorter.
Endingthe TB epidemic in Vietnam will require intensive effort. The USAID SHIFTproject’s partnership with the NTP has piloted the comprehensive Double XStrategy in health facilities and communities in 18 districts in sevenprovinces (Thai Binh, Nghe An, An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, and TienGiang).
DoubleX will be further scaled up to 25 provinces in December 2020. Sites forimplementation will include provincial hospitals (lung hospitals, generalhospitals) as well as district health centres and general hospitals./.
DoubleX is a new strategy to diagnose TB using chest X-rays and GeneXpert, adiagnostic method that detects TB bacteria.
Atan event entitled “Health Partnerships to End TB in Vietnam - Applying the“Double X” Strategy held on December 15 in Hanoi, participants shared keyachievements and lessons in implementing the Strategy, including keyachievements of the NTP toward TB goals; outcomes from USAID Sustainable HIVand TB Responses from Technical Assistance (SHIFT) activity on the Double-XStrategy in seven provinces in Vietnam, experiences from provincial TBprogrammes; and multi-faceted TB strategies using Double X from internationalorganisations.
Vietnamranks 11th among the 30 countries that account for nearly 90 percent ofthe world’s TB burden. It is also one of the most common communicable diseasesin the country.
Eachyear, it is estimated that 170,000 people become sick from TB in Vietnam, butonly around 100,000 are accounted for in the National TB system, leaving around50,000 community TB cases undiagnosed, and the remaining 20,000 diagnosed butnot reported.
DeputyMinister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said the country has made encouragingachievements in the fight against TB, especially the fact that it couldsuccessfully treat 92 percent of first-time TB patients, 75-80 percent ofthe patients with multidrug resistant TB with short-term treatment while theglobal figure is about 56 percent.
Thenumber of TB patients is on a gradual downtrend, with a decline of only 4 percenta year, according to Tuyen, who said the national programme should maximise theuse of existing tools in diagnosing and treating TB with universal healthinsurance; while at the same time, expanding the application of newidentification tools, new drugs and vaccines, with the help of partners both inand outside the country.
ProfessorNguyen Viet Nhung, chair of the national programme on fighting TB, said justlike COVID-19, TB infection incidents need to be detected as soon as possibleso risks of transmission in the community are reduced and the hospitalisationfor the patients themselves would be shorter.
Endingthe TB epidemic in Vietnam will require intensive effort. The USAID SHIFTproject’s partnership with the NTP has piloted the comprehensive Double XStrategy in health facilities and communities in 18 districts in sevenprovinces (Thai Binh, Nghe An, An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, and TienGiang).
DoubleX will be further scaled up to 25 provinces in December 2020. Sites forimplementation will include provincial hospitals (lung hospitals, generalhospitals) as well as district health centres and general hospitals./.
VNA
