Festival raises public awareness of diabetes prevention
A festival to raise public awareness of the importance of early diabetes prevention and control was organised in Hanoi on November 11 as part of activities in response to World Diabetes Day (November 14).
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The event was jointly held by the Ministry of Health, the Vietnam Young Doctors' Association, the Vietnam Youth Union of Hanoi, and AstraZeneca Vietnam.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Diabetes Federation chose November 14 as World Diabetes Day to promote coordinated and concerted actions to control diabetes as a critical global health issue.
Themed “Family and Diabetes”, the festival aimed to raise public awareness about the impacts of diabetes on families and supporting network for affected people. At the same time, it promoted the role played by families in managing, caring for and preventing the disease, focusing on early screening to minimize the risk of complications, thereby lowering the mortality rate as well as the cost for treatment.
Addressing the event, Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien highlighted the significance of the event, and the need for early screening of the disease - the third leading cause of death in Vietnam after cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
She expected that the programme will receive great attention from society, and the participation of families and the community, especially youths and young doctors, thus joining hands in repelling the burden of the disease in Vietnam.
Within the programme, the Vietnam Young Doctors' Association presented 10 sphygmomanometers to the Young Doctors Association of Hanoi, conducted diabetes screening for 500 people, and gave advices related to nutrition and gifts to participants.
Vietnam has instituted many screening programmes for diabetes and pre-diabetes as part of the efforts to reduce the rate of undiagnosed diabetics and protect people from cardiometabolic disorders which are intrinsically linked with diabetes and a major cause of morbidity and mortality world-wide.
A report conducted by the GDPM and the WHO in 2015 showed that one in five Vietnamese adults has high blood pressure and one in 25 gets diabetes. However, only 14% of hypertension patients, and 29% of diabetes patients were under treatment at medical stations.
