City hospital offers free lung testing 

The HCM City University's Medical Centre last Saturday offered free consultancy services for respiratory diseases and spirometry testing for 30 patients to mark the first ever World Spirometry Day that falls on October 14.

The day aims to raise public awareness of lung health, with spirometry testing being the most common method for testing lung function, said Prof Le Thi Tuyet Lan, head of the respiratory care department.

The testing process, which costs VND200,000 (US$10) for the first test and VND150,000 ($8) for subsequent ones, is available at hospitals and medical centres in 22 cities and provinces nationwide.

Hunger and poverty programme launched   

A weeklong programme entitled "Join hands for hunger and poverty reduction and nutrition improvement" was launched last Friday in Ha Noi by the National Institute of Nutrition and the World Vision Viet Nam.

Organisers called on the Government to develop appropriate policies and guidelines to promote better child nutrition and end preventable deaths.

The nutrition institute is aiming to reduce malnutrition among under-fives to under 30 per cent by end of 2010.

Chinese national held for drug trafficking

Police in northern border province of Lang Son arrested a Chinese national earlier this month for allegedly trafficking 800 tablets of an outlawed drug.

The trafficker admitted that he had transported the drugs from China to sell in Viet Nam.

It is thought the man entered Viet Nam through Tan Thanh Bordergate.

Dengue fever spreads in central provinces

More than 256 dengue fever cases have been diagnosed in Da Nang during the past two weeks.

There have been about 3,000 confirmed dengue fever cases nationwide this year, a six fold increase over the same period last year, reported health officials.

"I have lived here for 10 years, but I have never seen so many mosquitoes," said Nguyen Thi Xuan Lan, a resident who lives in Thuan Phuoc Apartment.

She added that her family burns incense and uses electric fans around the clock to kill mosquitoes. Her two nieces were been hospitalised with dengue fever several days ago.

According to a report from Da Nang General Hospital, the facility receives between 20 and 30 patients per day, which forces people to share beds at the facility.

About 70 per cent of the patients have been young adults and children and 150 patients are in serious conditions reported the municipal Preventive Health Centre.

Vietnam attends APEC food security meeting

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong is attending the first ministerial meeting on food security of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that opened in Niigata prefecture, Japan , on October 16.

The meeting, initiated by Japan, aims to build and strengthen cooperative ties on food and agricultural policies.

The two-day meeting, attended by , the 21 APEC member economies, is to produce a ministerial declaration and an action plan aimed at preventing food shortages, according to Kyodo News.

Key items on the agenda of the meeting are sustainable development of the agricultural sector and the facilitation of investment, trade and markets.

Participants will also discuss how to cope with climate change and natural disasters, Kyodo added.

VNN/VNS/VOV