Scaling up solutions to end TB by 2030

The Government Office has just issued Notice No. 167/TB-VPCP dated April 17, 2024 on the concluding opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha at the Conference on deploying the work in 2024 of the National Committee on ending Tuberculosis.

The announcement stated: The work of preventing and combating tuberculosis in Vietnam in recent times has been actively directed and implemented by the Party, the State and the Prime Minister and has achieved many important and noteworthy results. In 2015, Vietnam was one of the 9 countries that achieved the Millennium Development Goals in all 3 indicators of current incidence, new cases and deaths due to tuberculosis. The national health system for preventing and combating tuberculosis and lung diseases has been operating effectively: the treatment success rate is high (92% for patients with sensitive tuberculosis, over 75% for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis); the transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the community has been gradually controlled.

In addition to the positive results mentioned above, there are still many difficulties and challenges that need to be overcome soon. It is estimated that Vietnam has about 172,000 people with tuberculosis and about 13,000 people die from tuberculosis every year; it is ranked 11th out of 30 countries with a high burden of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis globally; awareness of proactive prevention, control and treatment of the disease and the people's concern are still low.

In order to achieve the basic goal of ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030 according to Resolution 20-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 12th Central Executive Committee on strengthening the work of protecting, caring for and improving people in the new situation, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the leaders of the Ministry of Health, ministries, branches, central and local agencies to strengthen the direction of communication work, provide timely and accurate information on the situation, prevention and control measures and the ability to receive treatment for tuberculosis patients to raise people's sense of responsibility in the work of preventing, controlling and treating tuberculosis.

Promulgating the National Strategy for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control for the New Phase

The Ministry of Health shall preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies and units to summarize 10 years of implementing the National Strategy for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control to 2020 and vision to 2030; include reports on tuberculosis prevention and control in the monthly socio-economic situation reports of the Ministry of Health; update the content on the current situation, population issues, and tuberculosis prevention and control in the socio-economic report sent to the National Assembly to propose to the National Assembly resources and implementation policies.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health drafted the content and reported to the Prime Minister on submitting to the Politburo the Directive on strengthening tuberculosis prevention and control, on that basis proposing to the Prime Minister to promulgate the National Strategy on tuberculosis prevention and control for the new period.

Research to amend and supplement legal documents to encourage medical staff to participate and ensure human resources for tuberculosis prevention and control; research to combine Western medicine, Eastern medicine and traditional medicine in tuberculosis treatment.

Research on establishing inter-regional hospital for tuberculosis prevention and control

The Ministry of Health will soon have a plan to work with 12 localities that do not have specialized TB hospitals to unify the model and prioritize resources for TB prevention, control and treatment; preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to study and propose a project on a suitable TB prevention and control organization model (establishing departments, inter-regional hospitals, etc.) to submit to the Prime Minister in the third quarter of 2024; develop a National Target Program on TB prevention and control, and report to the Prime Minister in the third quarter of 2024.

The Ministry of Health directs the Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Program and the Central Lung Hospital to strengthen international cooperation, technology transfer, especially testing and rapid detection technology, and mobilize aid funds to implement tuberculosis prevention and control activities.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health shall preside over and coordinate with the Vietnam Social Security, relevant ministries, agencies and localities to review subjects without health insurance cards in the area, especially those diagnosed with TB, to find solutions for these subjects to enjoy health insurance, moving towards health insurance coverage for all TB patients; carry out centralized bidding to ensure adequate availability of drugs, supplies and chemicals for TB prevention and control.

The Ministry of Health shall preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to research and develop a plan to investigate the current TB prevalence nationwide by 2025 to serve as a basis for proposing appropriate and effective TB prevention and control solutions, aiming to end TB by 2030; coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to implement appropriate and effective TB prevention and control measures for subjects being managed in prisons, temporary detention centers, temporary detention centers and in drug rehabilitation facilities, mental health facilities, social protection facilities, etc.

Compile guidelines on tuberculosis prevention and control for each level of education.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Education and Training to guide schools on the occasion of February 27 and November 20 every year to set aside a certain amount of time to disseminate awareness of maintaining and improving health, including knowledge on preventing and fighting tuberculosis; and to coordinate with the Ministry of Health in compiling guidelines on preventing and fighting tuberculosis for each level of education.

People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities urgently develop programs and plans to implement the instructions on tuberculosis prevention and control in the following documents: (i) Directive No. 25-CT/TW dated October 25, 2023 of the Central Party Secretariat on "Continuing to consolidate, improve and enhance the quality of grassroots health care activities in the new situation"; (ii) Official Dispatch No. 25/CD-TTg dated March 25, 2024 of the Prime Minister on "Strengthening tuberculosis prevention and control"; (iii) perfecting tuberculosis prevention and control agencies at all levels in accordance with current regulations and Decision No. 1745/QD-TTg dated December 4, 2019 of the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Information and Communications, the Minister of Health; the General Directors of Vietnam Television, the Voice of Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency and press agencies; the Chairmen of the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities direct press and media agencies to strengthen propaganda work on the burden of tuberculosis, the role of tuberculosis prevention and control, and people's awareness and responsibility in tuberculosis prevention and control, and signs of tuberculosis for early screening and timely prevention and treatment measures.

Central agencies of organizations: Vietnam Association of the Elderly, Vietnam Women's Union, Vietnam Farmers' Association, Central Committee of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union,... strengthen propaganda and mobilize cadres and members to proactively learn and grasp information and knowledge about tuberculosis prevention and control to become the core and backbone in implementing the tuberculosis prevention and control program in the locality.

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