Illjustrative image (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Over two million people in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to benefit from a project for a healthy heart which was launched in the city on June 22.
The project will be carried out in Districts 8, 12, Go Vap and Thu Duc until the end of 2018 by the PATH global health organisation, Novartis Fund and the municipal Health Department.
Addressing the launching ceremony, Truong Le Van Ngoc from the Agency of Health Examination and Treatment under the Health Ministry said the project is an international effort to contribute significantly to controlling hypertension and other non-communicative diseases in Vietnam.
The project, which is in line with the national strategy on preventing non-communicative diseases from 2015-2025, will help locals early detect high blood pressure for timely treatment and long-term control of the disease using a community-based approach.
According to Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department Nguyen Huu Hung, the project will set up screening spots in the community, thus enabling people to monitor their blood pressure themselves.
A database on people with the condition will be set up. Patients will be referred to health care facilities for treatment.
A network of trained volunteers will be established to provide consultation services for people.
Digital technology will be applied to facilitate self-monitoring and enhance interaction between patients and health care service providers.
From 2011 to 2015, the local health sector conducted blood pressure screening of residents in 30 wards and communes in eight districts in the city.
In Vietnam, high-blood pressure cause over 90,000 deaths per year.
Over one quarter of the adult population of the country have high-blood pressure. However, less than half of them are aware of their condition. Only 11 percent of the treated cases achieve the target blood pressure.-VNA
