Prime Minister directs strengthening of tuberculosis prevention and control

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just signed Official Dispatch No. 25/CD-TTg on strengthening the work of preventing and combating tuberculosis. The dispatch stated that in recent years, the Party and the State have paid special attention to the work of preventing and combating tuberculosis. All levels and sectors from central to local levels and the entire political system, with close coordination from international organizations, have participated in the work of controlling and ending tuberculosis.

PCBL activities have achieved very encouraging results in recent times. Every year, we focus on detecting over 100,000 TB patients, the successful treatment rate for TB is over 90%, and many new initiatives and techniques are being implemented in disease prevention and control, so the TB detection rate has recovered very quickly after the COVID-19 pandemic. The PCBL system has been built and deployed nationwide from the central to local levels. The situation of TB and drug-resistant TB is gradually being controlled.

However, the number of deaths from tuberculosis is still high, about 13,000 people each year; many people with tuberculosis in the community have not been detected. According to the 2023 report of the World Health Organization (WHO), the tuberculosis situation in Vietnam is still very serious, ranking 11th out of 30 countries with the highest burden of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.

Doctors at Dong Thap Lung Hospital examine a patient being treated for tuberculosis. Photo: Nhut An/VNA

The work of PCBL has not received due attention, has not been invested in synchronously and comprehensively; the PCBL work system is still limited, the prevention and control work in the grassroots health system is uneven and not very effective; people still have stigma and inferiority complex, do not pay due attention to the responsibility and rights to take care of their health, do not see the danger of hiding the disease,...

To control and achieve the goals of the TB Strategy, the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches, central and local agencies to continue to thoroughly grasp and proactively and effectively implement the National TB Strategy to 2020 and vision to 2030 issued together with Decision No. 374/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and the directions of the Government and the Prime Minister on TB work. Strengthening the propaganda of TB work is an important and long-term task of the entire political system, of all levels and branches from central to local levels, in which the health sector is the core, focusing on grassroots health care; the burden caused by TB to patients, families, communities and society; TB is a curable disease.

Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities direct the strengthening of the capacity of the medical examination and treatment system (public and private), especially the grassroots health system in detecting, managing, treating and preventing tuberculosis, including linking with medical examination and treatment facilities. Complete and improve the capacity of the TB prevention and control system in the area. Closely follow the local situation to promptly direct the detection and treatment of TB patients. Effectively implement disease prevention and control measures in the community. Prioritize the allocation of resources from the local budget for TB prevention and control work in the area, especially in provinces with high infection rates.

The Prime Minister requested the Minister of Health to provide professional guidance on TB prevention and control for localities. Organize a review of 10 years of implementing the National TB Prevention and Control Strategy to 2020 and vision to 2030, on that basis propose to the Prime Minister to promulgate the National TB Prevention and Control Strategy for the new period; review, develop and update professional guidelines on TB detection, diagnosis, treatment, management and prevention.

The Minister of Health urgently completes and issues the “Guidelines for the implementation of proactive and active detection of tuberculosis, latent tuberculosis, and some respiratory diseases in the community and medical facilities”. Along with that, strengthen international cooperation to mobilize resources, techniques, and experience to support TB prevention and control work in Vietnam; strengthen solutions to ensure resources, especially drugs for TB prevention and control work.

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, and the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities direct press and media agencies to strengthen propaganda work on the burden of tuberculosis and TB prevention and control work.

The National Committee on Ending Tuberculosis strengthens its advisory work, proposes and promptly recommends to the Government and the Prime Minister measures, mechanisms and policies, and urges ministries, branches and localities to implement solutions to soon end tuberculosis.

The Prime Minister requested the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations to increase propaganda for members and coordinate with authorities at all levels to effectively implement PCBL measures.

According to VNA

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