Health experts exchanged expertise and experience in an effort to improve the hypertension management programme at a conference on May 22 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam records about 200,000 stroke patients every year, said Associate Professor Nguyen Trong Luu, Vice President of the Vietnam Association for Rehabilitation.

Many hospitals in HCM City are continuing to offer home-based medical examinations and treatment that began during the first COVID-19 outbreak.

The number of people suffering from kidney problems was increasing in Vietnam, and kidney failure had begun to harm more and more young people, doctors have said.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control reported one new imported case and another coronavirus-related death on August 15 morning.

Vietnam reported 22 new COVID-19 cases and two fatalities on August 13 evening, raising the total infection cases to 905 and death toll to 20.

A 68-year-old woman with leukemia was confirmed dead on early August 1 at Da Nang Oncology Hospital in the central city of Da Nang, according to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son.

Controlling the number of people with hypertension and diabetes is a big challenge for Vietnam, experts said.

The Ministry of Health’s Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department and Servier Vietnam Pharmaceutical Company on June 18 signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of “The First Day” project during 2019-2020.

Diagnosis and management of outpatient treatment of non-communicable diseases like hypertension at commune-level health stations will be the focus of the Project on Strengthening Management of Hypertension and Diabetes at Commune Health Station and Communication on Salt Use Reduction.

Early diagnosis, treatment and management of non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes at communal medical stations were updated at a training course workshop for lecturers major in the field held in Hanoi on June 11.

The number of people who die of hypertension each year in Vietnam is 10 times higher than the number of victims killed by traffic accidents, a cardiovascular specialist said at a recent workshop.

The Ministry of Finance is proposing to levy a special consumption tax of 10 percent on sweet drinks to combat child and adult obesity rates.

Healthcare units, especially at local level, should frequently check blood pressure for people aged above 18 to early notice risks of hypertension, which is dubbed “the silent killer”, said the health minister.

Approximately 12 million Vietnamese adults, or about one of every 5 people, suffer from high blood pressure, said Deputy Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine Truong Dinh Bac.

More than 500 domestic and international physicians are attending the congress on New Trends in Management of Cardiovascular Diseases that opened in Ho Chi Minh City on October 12.