Taking blood for diabetes testing (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health on November 14 introduced an application named “Diabetes Journey” to provide doctors, especially medical workers at the grassroots levels, with guidance on diagnosis of diabetes and recommendations for appropriate treatment options.
This is an useful tool for physicians, especially those working at local health establishments, to better understand the treatment of this disease.
Diabetes is a growing non-communicable disease in Vietnam. It causes not only burdens for patients and their families, but also an economic burden for the Government.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), around 3.5 million people are living with diabetes in Vietnam, and the number is predicted to increase to 6.5 million in 2045.
Data also showed that nearly six out of ten diabetes patients suffer from complications caused by the disease.
The disease is said to continue to affect more Vietnamese people as the population is aging because people aged 40 and above are twice likely to suffer from diabetes than those at the lower ages.
The implementation of this digital solution is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on health education between the Medical Services Administration under the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam.
Diabetes Journey is a simple digital application for mobile phones, which was developed on the basis of diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines, and relevant guidelines approved by the Ministry of Health such as guidelines for diagnose and treatment of diabetes type 2, medication list, instructions for using medicine, among others.
The application not only provides the guidance of objective diagnosis but also proposes treatment options according to diabetes diagnostic and treatment guidelines in Vietnam to doctors to decide on.
Mikkel Lyndrup, Health Counselor at the Danish Embassy in Vietnam, said the Diabetes Journey app supports doctors in making simple decisions and providing transparent advices related to the treatment of diabetes type 2 for medical workers.
The app uses clinical guidelines and evidence to objectively recommend the best treatment so that medical workers can consider, thus coming up with their own ideas for treating this disease.
The interface and instructions of the software (Photo: VietnamPlus)
This application has been used in a number of countries with increasing numbers of diabetes similar to Vietnam.
Participants at the event stressed that it necessary to join hands in deal with diabetes, saying that the number of people suffering from diabetes does not seem to stop worldwide.
Experts said the number of Vietnamese people with diabetes, the third leading cause of death in the country, has almost doubled in the last decade.
Several studies have said that aside from genetics and aging, unbalanced diet, lack of physical activities, smoking or alcohol abuse, are the main causes of diabetes.
Diabetes is one of the 21st century's globally urgent health issues, which has slowed down economic growth, hindering the realization of sustainable development goals, especially in low and middle income countries.
The World Health Organisation warned that diabetes could lead to serious complications such as blindness, amputation, kidney failure, and cerebrovascular accident.
According to the IDF, as many as 425 million people ranging from 20 to 79 years old in the world were found to suffer from diabetes in 2017. The number is predicted to rise to 629 million, or one out of 10 adults will have diabetes by 2045.
At present, up to half of those with diabetes have been not diagnosed. The medical costs for adults with diabetes account for 12 percent of the global health expenditure.
The World Diabetes Day is held annually on November 14. This day was initiated in response to the growing concern about the escalating health threat of diabetes around the world./.
