Doctors examine a patient with tuberculosis in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The
(WHO) Vietnam has praised the country for its significant progress in fighting
tuberculosis (TB) over the previous year in a letter sent to Deputy Prime
Minister Vu Duc Dam on the occasion of the World TB Day (March 24).
Representative to Vietnam Kidong Park took the
occasion to invite Deputy PM Dam, who is head of the National Committee on Prevention and Control, to
participate in this year’s World TB Day global campaign.
The theme of the World TB Day 2021 – “The clock is
ticking” – conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on
the commitments to end . The WHO is urging countries to implement ten
priority recommendations to put the world on track to reach agreed targets by
2022 and beyond.
It is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic that has put the End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable
access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving
Universal Health Coverage.
According to the WHO, TB remains the world’s deadliest
infectious killer. Each day, over 4,000 people lose their lives to TB and close
to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.
In 2015, world leaders committed to ending the global TB
epidemic by 2030 and they reaffirmed their commitment to fighting the disease
at the UN General Assembly’s High-level Meeting on Fight to End TB in 2018. It
is expected to have around 40 million people worldwide provided with access to
diagnosis and treatment by 2022.
Heads of State and Government committed to mobilise
sufficient and sustainable financing from all sources for universal access to
quality TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. They aim to increase
overall global investments for ending TB at least 13 billion USD annually by
2022.
Vietnam has seen considerable progress in reducing TB
burden. The number of new cases founded in 2020 dropped 3.1 percent from
170,000 in the previous year./.
Source: VietnamPlus
