Although Vietnamese people have a relatively high life expectancy compared to other countries with the same standard of living, their years living with diseases is high. Illustrative image.

That is the downside of industrialization, urbanization, globalization, population aging and climate change ... which are causing serious consequences, the increase of the risk of disease and disability and premature death from illnesses, especially non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. Currently, Vietnam has about 12 million people with hypertension, nearly 3 million people with diabetes, over 2 million people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma, and each year, about 125,000 new cases of cancer are dected.

Although Vietnamese people have a relatively high life expectancy compared to other countries with the same standard of living, their years living with diseases is high. Among the 10 Southeast Asian countries, Vietnamese men’s life expectancy ranks fifth and Vietnamese women's life expectancy ranks second. However, the number of years living with diseases of Vietnamese people is high compared to other countries. Each Vietnamese person has an average of 10 years living with the disease, so it greatly affects the quality of life and reduces the number of years of healthy living.

Vietnam is one of the fastest aging countries in the world. Since 2012, Vietnam has entered an aging period when the number of people aged 60 and older accounted for 10.2% of the total population and is expected to become a country with a very old population in 2038, with the proportion of people aged 60 years and over up to 20.1%.

The height of both men and women in Vietnam has increased very little over the years and is now lower than the average height of the same age group of most countries in Asia. Since 1993, the average height of young Vietnamese has only increased by 3 cm and now reaches 164 cm for men and 153 cm for women.

Program "Vietnamese health"

Comprehensive healthcare to improve the health, stature, longevity and quality of life of Vietnamese people. Illustrative image

In order to improve the physical strength of the Vietnamese people, to meet the need for human resource for building and defending the country in the new situation, in Resolution 20-NQ/TW (12th term) regarding strengthening the work of protection and care and improvement of people's health in the new situation and Resolution 21-NQ/TW (12th term) on the work of population in the new situation, the Party has affirmed that investing in protection, care and improvement of people's health is an investment for development. The State prioritizes budget investment and has mechanisms and policies to mobilize and effectively use resources to protect, care for and improve people's health. Population is the most important factor in the cause of national construction and defense. Population work is a strategic task, both urgent and in the long-term; is the cause of the entire Party and the entire people.

To realize the Central Resolution 20 and 21 on the protection and improvement of people's health and population in the new situation, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1092/QD-TTg on September 12, 2018 to approve the "Vietnam Health" Program, in order to build a supportive environment, enhance capacity for each citizen, well implement comprehensive health care and management to improve the health, stature, life expectancy and quality of life of Vietnamese people.

At the launching ceremony of the Vietnam Health Program, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the people's healthcare career has been constantly improved, achieved many results but there are still many shortcomings, difficulties and new challenges. At the same time, the Prime Minister asked to focus on implementing key tasks, first of all to raise awareness and the sense of responsibility of all levels, sectors, of the entire political system and the entire population on healthcare work, propagating healthy behaviors and lifestyles to create a widespread and sustainable movement, becoming cultural habits and lifestyles in the community.

The Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1092/QD-TTg on September 12, 2018 to approve the "Vietnam Health" Program

Together with good preventive medicine and disease prevention, it is necessary to provide a full range of essential healthcare services for people, especially at the grassroots level so that all people can have their health checked, early detection of disease, counseling, guidance, care, treatment, continuous management, especially for people with chronic diseases and the elderly. Everyone must be cared for and managed health right in the mother's womb.

The "Health of Vietnam" program sets out tasks and solutions to focus on implementing 28 targets of 11 priority health areas including: proper nutrition; physical exercise; health care for children and pupils; prevention and control of tobacco and alcohol harms; environmental sanitation; food safety; early detection and management of non-communicable diseases (a major cause of death such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); taking care and managing people's health; elderly health; workers' health.

Undeniably, this is a comprehensive program that is implemented on a national scale to effectively mobilize and promote the roles and responsibilities of administrations at all levels, ministries, branches, localities and organizations to build a supportive environment, mobilizing the participation of people and the community, and well implementing the management and comprehensive healthcare to improve health, stature, longevity and quality of life of Vietnamese people.

Thu Thuy