Text campaign launched to support TB patients

Giving treatment to TB patients (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The
National Lung Hospital, the National Programme against Tuberculosis (TB) and
the Patients Support Foundation to End Tuberculosis (PASTB) and the National
Humanitarian Portal 1400 have launched a text message campaign to support TB patients.

From March 3 to the end of
May 9, 2019, mobile service subscribers can text TB to 1402 to contribute
18,000 VND (0.78 USD) to the fund.

According to Assistant Prof.
Nguyen Viet Nhung, Director of the , each message will provide
funds to help overcome the disease and reduce infection risk in the
community.

Ending TB would mean saving
12,000 lives each year and ease the worry of infection for hundreds of thousands
of people, he stressed.

The National Programme
against Tuberculosis recorded 124,000 new TB cases in 2017. TB deaths in
the year were estimated at 12,000, mostly in undetected and untreated people.

Globally, TB is the second leading
cause of deaths among infectious diseases, killing about 1.6 million people
each year.

Vietnam currently ranks 16th out of 30 countries in
terms of the number of cases of the disease per year and the amount of money
spent treating it.

Last year, a similar campaign received 23,232 messages worth
more than 418 million VND (17,974 USD), which was used to help some 100 poor TB
patients pay health insurance, hospital fees and for meals.-VNA