Vietnam aims to cut the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases by half in 2015 and eradicate the disease by 2030.
This is the overall goal of the national TB prevention programme in the 2011-2015 period, with a vision to 2030, that was announced at a seminar in Hanoi on November 22.

Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Ngoc Sy, Director of the Central Lung Hospital, said there remain difficulties in meeting the targets due to the shortage of medical workers and their low pay. In addition, nearly 50 percent of medical workers have not been well-trained at the district level and anti-TB drugs are not well managed in the local market.

According to Dr Sy, TB prevention should be prioritized when socio-economic development plans are made. Besides, he said it is necessary to strengthen the control over TB cases, improve the capacity of medical staff and build high quality TB treatment and prevention centres.  

Priority should also be given to preventing TB in remote areas and there should be financial policies to attract human resources to become involved in preventing TB, said Dr Sy.

The event is co-organised by the National Lung Hospital and the National Anti-tuberculosis Programme under the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Each year, Vietnam records around 180,000 new TB cases and 32,000 people die from of the disease.

VOV