MSA, Danish Embassy sign health education collaboration

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – The Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Administration
(MSA) and the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam will continue a strategic
collaboration on education on diabetes and other non-communicable
diseases for the 2021-2023 period.

With
support of Novo Nordisk in Vietnam, the collaboration will focus on capacity
building and technical updates for healthcare professionals via virtual
courses. It will strengthen disease awareness education for patients and the
public on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases via a website on
diabetes at http://daithaoduong.kcb.vn.

It
will also further facilitate collaboration, best practice and information
sharing to improve quality of care for diabetes and other non-communicable
diseases.

“Currently,
the whole country and the health sector are fighting against the 4th wave of
the COVID-19 pandemic. People at high risk during a pandemic are those with
underlying medical conditions such as non-communicable diseases including
diabetes. Therefore, improving diabetes care is very important in diabetes
treatment and COVID-19 pandemic prevention in Vietnam,” said MSA Director
Associate Professor Luong Ngoc Khue.

“The
Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam is glad to see the collaboration on health
between Denmark and Vietnam being strengthened, and hopes that this MOU, along
with the recently signed Strategic Sector Collaboration in Health, will make a
valuable contribution to the Vietnamese people,” said Troels Jakobsen,
Counsellor at the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam.

“We
are proud to have this opportunity to continue our support for the bilateral
partnership between the Danish Embassy and Ministry of Health to raise public
awareness of diabetes and improve the quality of care for diabetes at all
levels, especially primary care, through different e-health education
initiatives such as diabetes journey application and diabetes website,” said
Hassan Mahmoud Fahmi, Chief Representative of the Novo Nordisk Office in Vietnam.

Diabetes
is one of the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide. Diabetes leads
to many serious complications, and is the leading cause of heart disease,
blindness, kidney failure and amputation.

According
to the World Diabetes Federation, 463 million adults (age 20-79) or one in 11
adults was living with diabetes in 2019 globally. It is estimated that this
number will increase to about 700 million people by 2045. However, nearly half
of people living with diabetes (age 20-79) are undiagnosed (46.5 percent) and
52.1 percent in the Western Pacific region./.