Hanoi: The Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine on January 16 asked localities nationwide to keep a close watch on the disease situation in the face of complex developments of infectious diseases, especially respiratory ones, around the world.

In December 2023, nearly 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 were reported worldwide while the number of hospitalised cases surged 42% from the previous month. New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have continuously changed, and sub-variant JN.1 is spreading rapidly around the globe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The US, China, and some European countries have recorded the re-emergence of COVID-19 infections as well as the transmission of other respiratory illnesses like seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus.

In Vietnam, the northern region is now in the transitional period between winter and spring, when cold and dry weather is alternated with wet weather, triggering infectious diseases, especially respiratory ones. Meanwhil
e, the numbers of cases suffering from other infectious diseases like dengue fever, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and some others which have already had vaccines have also been on the rise in many places, the department pointed out.

It warned that the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays and spring festive season, when trading and travel demand surges, along with abnormal weather changes are favourable conditions for diseases to spread, particularly among children with weak immunity and the elderly with comorbidities, who are more vulnerable to infectious diseases.

Given this, the Department of Preventive Medicine asked provincial-level departments of health to propose their provinces and cities’ administrations soon issue plans on infectious disease prevention and control for 2024. They were also told to engage all local sectors and socio-political organisations in the work, especially during Tet.

In particular, local health departments were demanded to order grassroots health units like disease control ce
ntres and preventive medicine bodies keep a close watch on the disease situation and the increase in infections of respiratory illnesses and severe cases of viral pneumonia.

They need to maintain constant monitoring to detect infections early so as to make timely response, control transmission, and minimise severe cases and deaths, the Department of Preventive Medicine added, requesting the expanded programme on immunisation be properly maintained./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The diagnosis of tuberculosis at grassroots-level healthcare facilities plays an important role in the fight against tuberculosis as Vietnam stands at high risk of tuberculosis outbreaks.

Dinh Van Luong, Director of the National Lung Hospital and head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Project, said grassroots-level healthcare facilities are a competent, responsible, and dedicated force protecting the community against the disease.

Assessing the COVID-19 impact on tuberculosis prevention and control, he said the pandemic delayed by five to eight years the provision of essential TB services and increasing the global TB burden.

‘Vietnam is still a country with a high tuberculosis burden, ranking 11th among the 30 countries with the highest proportion of tuberculosis patients and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the world, according to World Health Organization’s Global TB Report 2023,’ he told the Vietnam News Agency.

During the pandemic, Vietnam’s TB fight f
aced challenges with the over 20% decline in the number of infections detected in the community in 2021 compared to 2019 and 2020.

This put Vietnam on the list of countries with the highest rate of reduction in tuberculosis detection in the world due to the impact of the pandemic.

The TB death rate in Vietnam has been also on the rise, reaching 12,000 people in 2021, an increase of 35.8% compared to 2020.

The National Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Programme has strived to launch the TB prevention task at all communes and wards across the country, with 100% of the population getting access to the programme.

Fifty-one out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide have established lung and tuberculosis hospitals.

The programme has expanded cooperation with partners such as the Ministry of Public Security, Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control under the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as central and
provincial general hospitals.

Local authorities have committed to implementing the model of TB detection in the community.

Everyone who has a health check-up at community medical facilities will have TB screening and check-up for other lung diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Thanks to that effort, in the first nine months of 2023, the total number of TB patients detected by public and private healthcare facilities reached 26,300 patients, accounting for 33.4% of total patients.

This has demonstrated the efficiency of grassroots TB detection, Luong said.

The official said the medical sector needs to strengthen TB diagnosis at the community level, focusing on high-risk groups to early detect and treat TB, looking towards ending the infection source in the community, and soon ending the epidemic.

In 2023, one of the most outstanding achievements in the fight against TB in Vietnam was the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the disease diagnosis.

The application of AI will facilitate th
e detection of tuberculosis, especially cases that are easily missed or difficult to reach, Luong said.

The medical sector has also stepped up TB detection in the community and at healthcare facilities by applying X-ray and Xpert testing for diagnosis.

Thanks to active participation of the community level healthcare system, in the first nine months of 2023, the National Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Programme detected 78,674 cases, a year-on-year increase of 1,909 cases.

Detection of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis during this period also rose by 44% compared to the same period in 2021./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The Vietnam Social Security (VSS) has completed and surpassed all set targets in the coverage of social, unemployment and health insurance, according to VSS General Director Nguyen The Manh.

Health insurance has now covered 93.35% of the country’s population, exceeding the goal set in the Government’s Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP as well as the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 68/2022/QH15 on socio-economic development plan for 2023, Manh said at the VSS’s conference in Hanoi on January 17 to review the sector’s performance in 2023 and launch tasks for 2024.

Last year, total premium from social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance reached over 472.3 trillion VND (19.24 billion USD), a year on year rise of 8.55%, 1.41% higher than the target assigned by the Prime Minister, while total expenditure was 439 trillion VND.

Meanwhile, the rate of people joining social insurance reached 39.25% of the labour force, or 18.25 million people. The rate for unemployment insurance was 31.58%, or 14
.69 million people, said the VSS leader.

In 2023, the VSS paid monthly pensions and social insurance benefits to 95,670 people, along with one-off payout of social insurance benefits to more than 1.3 million people, and sickness, maternity, convalescence, and health recovery benefits to more than 8.8 million people, he added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency