Vietnamese people are consuming too much salt according to the Ministry of Health's report.

Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Head of the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department

The information was revealed at the workshop for implementation of a project on strengthening management of hypertension and diabetes at commune health centres and communication on salt intake reduction held on July 17.

Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Head of the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department, said non-contagious diseases were actually the leading cause of death in Vietnam. In 2012, Vietnam had 520,000 deaths, 73% of which were caused by non-contagious diseases and 43% were less than 70 years old.

Heart-related diseases are very common in Vietnam and responsible for 30% of the fatality cases nationwide. High blood pressure and diabetes follow. The common causes are smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, stress and an unbalanced diet. Consuming too much salt is the main cause of high blood pressure and diabetes.

A national survey conducted in 2015 showed that Vietnamese people consumed an average of 10.5g of salt per day in male adults and 8.3g per day in female adults. The recommended intake by the World Health Organisation is 5g per person per day.

According to the survey, one out of five adults had high blood pressure and one out of 25 had diabetes. Only a few people discovered and received early treatments. 14% with high blood pressure, 29% with diabetes were being treated.

WHO in Vietnam representative Kidong Park said that there was a treatment gap in high blood pressure and diabetes health care. One out of two patients with high blood pressure didn't understand their illness and two out of three patients with diabetes didn't know their blood sugar levels. Most communal medical stations don't provide services for those patients.

The project on strengthening management of hypertension and diabetes at commune health centres and communication on salt intake reduction will help improve the medical services as well as consultancy services for the patients. It aims to help patients with high blood pressure and diabetes to get diagnosed sooner and change in the salt consumption habits of the locals.

With help from Resolve organisation, the World Health Organisation will provide support to 11 provinces from 2018 to 2019 and expand the project to 10 other provinces in the coming years.

Resolve and WHO will give advice and standards about salt maximum levels in frozen and processed food as well as promotion programmes to raise public awareness.

Dtinews