As per the Vietnam Medical Association's latest study, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are still heavy burden for the health sector. Moreover, they are by far the leading cause of death in the country.

Many Vietnamese men still smoke a lot (Photo: SGGP)

Through statistics,  seven out of ten dead people are infected with non-communicable diseases cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.

Worse,the country has around 12 million people suffering high blood pressure; three million people having diabetes; two million having chronic cardiovascular and lung diseases and 120,000 fresh cancer cases annually accounting for over 70 percent of burden of diseases.

Chairwoman of the Association Nguyen Thi Xuyen warned though the health sector has made efforts in controlling NCDs, the cases of non-communicable diseases in the country are growing at the alarm level.

One of causes of increase in cases is people's low awareness of prevention with around 45 percent of male smokers and 77 percent of wine consumers. Plus, people have imbalanced diets leading to increasing number of overweight people.

SGGP