Nearly a quarter of the country’s population has been lacking sufficient physical activity showing that physical activities of people have a low level and do not meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended levels of physical activity.

Following the reports of the Government about the health sector being submitted to the National Assembly for the sixth working session of the legislative agency, risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Vietnam are at a high level and tend to increase.

According to reports sent to the National Assembly from Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, who was authorized by the Prime Minister, many unhealthy lifestyle habits of people have contributed to creating a high risk of non-communicable diseases.

Statistics showed that the rate of smoking among adults aged 15 years or older was 20.8 percent. The smoking percentage among males (41.1 percent) was higher than among females (0.6 percent).

About one-third of the population has ever been exposed to tobacco smoke.

Nearly two-thirds of men and one-tenth of women were reportedly to drink alcohol. About 14.7 percent of drinkers have drunk hazardously with the rate of drinkers among men (28.5 percent) many times higher than women (1 percent).

About 59 percent of the country’s population had inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables compared to the recommendation that each person needs to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruits and vegetables daily, equivalent to 400 grams, based on advice from the World Health Organization.

About 78.2 percent of the population have regularly consumed spices and always used them for food preparation.

About 44.1 percent of adults in Vietnam have total cholesterol levels above 5mmol/L or use medication for the treatment with high cholesterol.

Overall, 15.3 percent of the adult population aged 40 to 69 years old have a high risk of above 20 percent of cardiovascular events such as stroke and myocardial infarction within the next ten years.

However, among them, 40.8 percent of the patients received medication counseling and prescription to prevent the diseases.

The death rate from non-communicable diseases in Vietnam accounts for the highest proportion with 73.66 percent of infectious cases and 78.6 percent of deaths in 2020.

Source: SGGP