At the recent 19th Congress of the World Diabetes Association in Cape town, South Africa, the association announced that using Avandia at the onset of diabetes would produce positive results in Type 2 diabetes patients, said Mr Binh.

However, the cost of Avandia treatments is still high (at US$60 per month) and exceeds the level poor people can afford to pay in Vietnam.

Statistics of the National Diabetes Prevention Project showed that the diabetes rate was about 2.7 percent nationwide in 2002. The rate was higher in major urban centres like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.