Vietnam commits to wiping out tuberculosis by 2030

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien. (Photo: VNA)

New York (VNA) – has committed to
wiping out (TB) in Vietnam by 2030 while addressing the High-Level
TB Meeting, held on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General
Assembly in New York.

The
Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee has issued a resolution which aims
to basically eradicate TB by 2030 and the Vietnamese Government has also rolled
out a national end TB strategy, the official said.

She pledged
that Vietnam will join international efforts to ensure no individual nor
country is left behind in the struggle to end the epidemic.

Although
Vietnam has completed the millennium development goal of reducing TB, the
country reports up to 13,000 deaths and 126,000 new cases due to the epidemic
each year, Minister Tien pointed out.

In her
remarks, Deputy UN Secretary-General Amina Mohammed described TB as a “vicious
epidemic”, which infects some 10.4 million people across the world, and is
fuelled by poverty, inequality, migration and conflict.

Better
health and social welfare systems and more investment are needed to halt this
global health crisis, and better tools are needed to overcome anti-microbial
resistance, as 60,000 drug-resistant cases of TB are reported every year, she
said.

Mohammed
said the WHO will lead cross-UN efforts to support governments, working
together with civil society and all partners to tackle TB.

The meeting
concluded with the adoption of an ambitious Political Declaration on TB,
endorsed by Heads of State, which is intended to strengthen action and
investments for ending of TB, and save millions of lives.-VNA