At the Conference of the Vietnam Lung Health Program for the period 2025-2027 organized by the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) on March 26, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuan, Deputy Minister of Health, said: Non-communicable diseases, especially chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchial asthma and lung cancer, are becoming the main causes of death and disability in Vietnam.
The rate of COPD in people over 40 years old is 4.2%, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region. The rate of bronchial asthma is 4.1%, but only about 29% of patients receive preventive treatment and less than 40% are well controlled. Lung cancer, with more than 24,000 new cases each year, ranks third in the number of new cases but second in the number of deaths. About 75% of patients are detected late, the survival rate after 5 years is only 14.8%.
Associate Professor, Dr. Do Hung Kien - Deputy Director of K Hospital - said that lung cancer screening in Vietnam is facing difficulties due to lack of equipment, infrastructure, expertise, along with inadequate awareness of people and medical staff. Health insurance has not yet paid for screening methods. Some drugs are not available at medical facilities, causing difficulties in personalized treatment.
Early-stage lung cancer is often asymmental or easily confused with other respiratory diseases, leading to missed out. By the time there were obvious symptoms, the disease was at a late stage. At K Hospital, more than 70% of patients are late, the 5-year survival rate is very low, so early screening is needed.
Currently, Vietnam does not have a standard procedure for screening for lung cancer using low-dose CT scans for high-risk groups. Associate Professor Do Hung Kien suggested that there should be a national program on lung cancer screening.
The Deputy Minister of Health added that the health sector has implemented many solutions in the National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases for the period 2015-2025, with the goal of detecting 50% of cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchial asthma early, effectively treating at medical facilities, controlling over 20% of patients and detecting 40% of lung cancer. However, there are still many gaps in screening, diagnosis, treatment and access to quality healthcare at the grassroots level.
The Vietnam Lung Health Program for the 2025-2027 period is a public-private partnership initiative, built on three foundational principles: comprehensive approach, focusing on people and applying science and technology.
