Vietnam aims to eradicate tuberculosis by 2035

VOV.VN - Due to COVID-19 challenges, Vietnam will seek to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2035 instead of 2030 as planned, said Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan at a ceremony held in Hanoi on March 24 to mark World Tuberculosis Day.

The adjustment to the National Action Plan to end TB by 2030, he said, is also in line with the Global Ending Tuberculosis Strategy which was adopted at the 67th World Health Assembly in 2014 with a vision of making the world free of TB.

According to the health professional, Vietnam currently ranks 11th among the world’s top 30 countries with high TB incidence rate, whilst the country as a whole is also facing risks relating to TB outbreaks in the community.

Despite TB prevention efforts Vietnam has made over the years, up to 169,000 people are newly infected with TB and 12,000 people die from the disease each year. Most notably, around 70% of people suffering from TB are of working age, meaning the disease is a financial burden for families and the economy in general.

Therefore, ending TB will help Vietnam to meet one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that is to eradicate TB as a global public health threat by 2030.

To end TB in Vietnam, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the responsibility of the health sector and the community as a whole to make people fully aware of the disease.

Competent authorities therefore need to conduct better communication work to raise public awareness of TB which takes many lives each year. Although TB is an infectious disease, it is both treatable and curable thanks to advances made in medical technology, he stressed.

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