On July 22, the Department of Mothers and Children, the Ministry of Health and Roche Vietnam Company (Pharma and Diagnostics) held a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to coordinate in developing and implementing a national action plan on the prevention of breast cancer and cervical cancer.
According to statistics from GLOBOCAN, each year Vietnam records about 24,600 new cases and more than 10,000 deaths from breast cancer. At the same time, Vietnam also recorded more than 4,600 new cases and more than 2,500 deaths from cervical cancer.
Mr. Dinh Anh Tuan - Director of the Department of Mothers and Children, Ministry of Health - shared that the Department of Mothers and Children is clearly aware of the urgency of developing a national action plan, to improve the effectiveness of screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of breast cancer and cervical cancer.
"The signing ceremony is an important first step, marking cooperation between the parties in efforts to build and complete the plan. When the plan is issued, it will be a solid professional foundation for inter-sectoral coordination activities and resource mobilization.
Improving the capacity of the health system, thereby ensuring that all women nationwide have access to timely and fair health care services," said Mr. Tuan.
Accordingly, the cooperation will focus on supporting the development and dissemination of national action plans on breast cancer and cervical cancer; developing professional guidance on breast cancer screening based on scientific evidence, then conducting a pilot in a locality to assess the possibility of practical application.
The cooperation program aims to ensure that all Vietnamese women have access to screening, diagnosis and treatment services for breast cancer and cervical cancer in a timely, effective and quality manner.
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Tri Thuc said that the Government has issued a strategy on health protection, care and improvement; a national strategy for prevention and control of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other non-communicable diseases, in which cancer prevention is one of the contents of the national target program.
The Ministry of Health has also issued a detailed plan to implement these strategies to reduce the number of cases of cancer, especially breast cancer and cervical cancer.
"Therefore, signing a memorandum of understanding to develop a "national action plan on preventing breast cancer and cervical cancer" is very meaningful in prevention, early detection, and screening to minimize the incidence of these cancers, as well as their consequences," said Mr. Thuc.
