Vietnam needs measures to deal with non-communicable diseases

As living
standards improve, the disease pattern in the country was changing, said
Minister of Health at a workshop entitled ‘Associate
education and treatment in optimising the management of hypertension and
diabetes held in Hanoi over the weekend.

Non-communicable
diseases account for about 70 percent of total diseases in Vietnam and are the
leading cause of death – accounting for 77 percent of total deaths nationwide.

Statistics
from the Ministry of Health (MoH) showed that many people were not aware that
they suffered from hypertension or diabetes.

The
number of patients undergoing treatment was low, with about 29 percent of
diabetes patients and 14 percent suffering from undergoing some
form of care. The main reason was a lack of knowledge among Vietnamese
patients.

In order
to prevent and limit including diabetes, the
Vietnamese Government has issued the ‘Vietnam Health Programme’ with 11 solutions,
Tien said. Of which, four solutions were being actively implemented, including
proper nutrition, strengthening physical activity, and preventing harm caused
by tobacco and alcohol.

In
addition, the MoH was also piloting a programme for early detection of diseases
such as diabetes, cardiovascular problems and cancer.

The
health sector also focuses on primary health care activities and health
promotion associated with grassroots healthcare in communes and districts.

According
to the International Diabetes Federation, there were 3.5 million people
suffering from diabetes in Vietnam in 2017, and this figure was predicted to
rise to over 6 million by 2045.

Given the
high rate of diabetics in Vietnam, treatment cost for the disease was a key
issue.

Pham Luong
Son, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Social Security (VSS), said
was one of the urgent global issues slowing sustainable development, especially
in low-income and middle-income countries.

According
to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are now more than 190
million people with diabetes worldwide and this number is increasing.

Every
year, the health insurance fund has paid trillions of VND for diagnosis and
treatment of diabetes. Given the difficulties in balancing the health insurance
fund, it was necessary to manage the expenditure for diabetes examination and
treatment properly as this was not only beneficial for patients but also
society as a whole.

Speaking
at the conference on the management of treatment for diabetes last week, Nguyen
Thi Thanh Ha from VSS said tests and diagnosis of diabetes were always among
the top 50 technical services with the largest expenditure in Vietnam;
accounting for about 8 percent of the health insurance fund’s expenditure.

Last
year, the total cost of diabetes treatment was over 5.3 trillion VND (226.7
million USD), up 13 percent compared to 2017.

Participants
at the workshop emphasised the need to effectively control expenditure as the
cost of treating diabetes was expected to increase by 42 percent from 2017 to
2045.

They said
it was essential to strengthen the role of healthcare at the grass-roots level,
sharing data from health insurers to limit unnecessary technical services. The
application of new techniques and drugs was a must to increase efficiency and
reduce costs.

Attention
should be paid to information campaigns on non-communicable disease prevention,
reducing salt consumption and controlling weight.

It was
necessary to strengthen early detection and treatment of the disease;
periodically conduct national surveys as part of a non-communicable disease
surveillance system to monitor risk factors and implementation measures on
prevention of the diseases in Vietnam, they said.-VNS/VNA