US presents tuberculosis detection tools, medications to Vietnam

Hanoi (VNA) – The US Agency for International Development (USAID) delivered new tuberculosis (TB) detection tools and treatment medications valued at roughly 3 million USD to the National Lung Hospital of Vietnam on February 16.

The donation, in support of Vietnam’s goal to end TB by 2030, includes 38 rapid diagnostic machines with 90,000 compatible test kits and 10 digital X-ray devices to be distributed to district health facilities across the country, including in the remote provinces of Nghe An, Lai Chau, An Giang, and Dong Thap, which have high burden of TB and multidrug-resistant TB.

It also includes drugs to treat 15,000 patients with latent TB infection for three months, to be distributed nationwide.

Both the rapid diagnostic machines and the X-ray devices are designed to operate in hard-to-reach areas. The rapid diagnostic machines, called Truenat, can perform on-the-spot detection of TB and drug-resistant TB in less than two hours and are battery powered. The digital X-ray devices are ultra-portable, with computer-aided TB detection software to assist in areas where radiologists may not be present.

USAID is funding a tailored package of training curricula and technical support to the National TB Programme, health facility staff, and local partners. This will help ensure greater sustainability of efforts to enhance Vietnam’s active case detection, ensure accurate and timely diagnosis, and support linkages to treatment of active and latent TB, according to USAID Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishoc.

TB is preventable and curable. However, Vietnam is among the top 30 countries with the highest TB burden in the world, with 172,000 people developing TB and more than 10,000 people dying from TB every year.

The impacts of COVID-19 have severely reduced TB care and services, with TB detection in Vietnam decreasing by 23.5 percent in the first 10 months of 2021. To address this, USAID is also supporting the integration of TB screening within the Vietnamese Government’s COVID-19 vaccination campaigns./.