Representatives of the Medical Services Administration under the Ministry of Health and signed the second phase of the “Vietnam Healthy Lung” programme for 2021-2023 in Hanoi on November 17. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – with , especially
lung cancer, will benefit from the second phase of the “Vietnam
Healthy Lung” programme in 2021-23 that was signed between the health
ministry’s Medical Services Administration (MSA) and AstraZeneca on November 16.
Following the success of the in 2017-20
with the aim of improving the quality of outpatient management of asthma
and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), the programme’s phase two
will continue to improve capacity of diagnosis, quality of treatment, care and
management of the asthma and COPD and expand into a new field of lung cancer.
Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of
Department of Medical Examination and Treatment under the Ministry of
Health, said at the event: “In the first phase during 2017-20, the Vietnam
Healthy Lung programme has implemented comprehensive solutions in control of
asthma and COPD in Vietnam. Therefore, maintaining and promoting the
effectiveness of these solutions more widely across the country in the next
period of 2021-2023 is very important to ensure patients’ long-term and
sustainable benefits.”
In addition, Khue said, expanding the programme into the field of lung cancer
would help patients access quality services in diagnosis, treatment and disease
management as well as improve the quality of management of respiratory diseases
and lung cancer, especially amid COVID-19.
In the next three years, the programme will focus on raising public awareness
of asthma, COPD and lung cancer for increasing screening and detection rates;
increasing access to quality health services in terms of examination,
diagnosis, treatment and disease management.
It will also help training of health professionals and support the
establishment of centres for asthma and COPD patients and centres for
standardised clinical practice on lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The “For Healthy Lungs” programme is AstraZeneca’s multinational
initiative to improve the quality of outpatient management of asthma and EP in
nine Asian countries, in which Vietnam was the first country to implement the
programme since 2017.
In the first phase, the programme contributed to solving the current challenges
in managing asthma and COPD by contributing to the development of the criterion
“Asthma and EPU management units” applied as a pilot in the Vietnam Healthy
Lung programme in Vietnam in the 2017-20 period.
It supported establishment and enhanced capacity for 110 asthma and COPD
management units, helping more than 101,364 patients access better
treatment. More than 4,820 people at risk of respiratory disease were
screened and educational programmes on how to control asthma and COPD
were provided for more than 11,515 patients. In addition, the programme also
organised training to update medical knowledge for 8,200 health workers.
It is estimated that over 4.2 percent of Vietnam’s population suffers from
COPD. It is worrying that most of them are not currently diagnosed due to a
lack of medical facilities, poor awareness of patients and limitations in the
professional skills of public health, according to the health ministry.
Vietnam each year reported about 23,667 new lung cancer cases and 20,170
deaths. Most people with cancer in the country visit hospitals for medical
examination and treatment in a late stage, making treatment difficult and
creating a huge financial burden on patients./.
Source: VietnamPlus
