Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long has just signed Document No. 1393/TTg-KGVX dated October 27, 2025, requesting ministries, branches and localities to strengthen the prevention and control of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis prevention and control still faces many difficulties
Sharing with Lao Dong reporter, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Xuan Phu - Deputy Director of the Central Lung Hospital, Deputy Head of the National Tuberculosis Control Program - said: In the past time, Vietnam has made the most of resources to implement many activities to detect early, effectively treat and manage tuberculosis patients, especially drug resistance and tuberculosis combined with HIV.
"The success rate of treatment for tuberculosis in Vietnam is 90% and the success rate of treatment for resistant tuberculosis is also over 70%, which is a very encouraging result," said Mr. Phu.
However, he said that Vietnam still records a high number of new cases each year, ranking 12th among 30 countries with the largest burden of tuberculosis in the world.
According to the 2024 global tuberculosis report of the World Health Organization (WHO), Vietnam is estimated to have about 182,000 people with tuberculosis, of which more than 13,000 people die each year.
According to the National Tuberculosis Control Program, about 40% of people with tuberculosis in the community have not been detected. The number of people with tuberculosis at risk of infection in the community is still large, so proactively detecting tuberculosis in the locality and at medical facilities is extremely important.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Binh Hoa - Deputy Director of the Central Lung Hospital - said that tuberculosis prevention and control is currently facing many difficulties. In particular, the lack of toxicology specialists is a common situation in most areas, especially mountainous, remote and isolated areas. The treatment and welfare regime for officials working in tuberculosis prevention is still very limited.
In addition, local budget sources for diabetes prevention and control are still limited, while international funding is being cut. Changes in policies and financial mechanisms, especially spending on ODA projects, also cause many obstacles in implementation...
Expect to increase the rate of new cases detected when receiving free health check-ups for people
Discussing the contents of the Government's directive on strengthening the work of preventing and controlling tuberculosis, Dr. Dinh Van Luong - Director of the Central Lung Hospital - said that Resolution 72 of the Politburo has set an important goal: "Every citizen is entitled to receive a free periodic health check-up at least once a year".
According to Mr. Luong, the implementation of periodic health check-ups not only helps people receive more comprehensive health care, but is also an opportunity to increase screening and early detection of tuberculosis, thereby improving treatment effectiveness and reducing the risk of spreading in the community.
"In the coming time, labor prevention needs to be promoted by mobilizing local budgets, while taking advantage of support resources from international organizations.
These resources will contribute to the effective implementation of training programs, screening and treatment of tuberculosis, especially maintaining treatment for patients in difficult circumstances in remote areas" - Dr. Dinh Van Luong emphasized.
During a recent visit to the Central Lung Hospital, Mr. Herbert of South Downs, Honorary Citizen of the UK (CBE), Member of the Royal Secret Council of the UK (PC), President of the Global Parliamentary Caucus for Labor Prevention and Control ( Global TB Caucus) highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts and strong commitments in the fight against tuberculosis.
According to Mr. Herbert, to achieve this goal, medical advances, sustainable financial resources and the consensus of the whole society are needed. He also discussed increasing domestic resource mobilization and promoting the role of policymakers to accelerate the process towards eliminating tuberculosis in Vietnam.
Through international cooperation, Vietnam will have more resources to expand testing capacity, promote screening in the community and improve access to health services for people with tuberculosis, aiming to end tuberculosis in Vietnam by 2030.
