Doctors examine a patient with tuberculosis in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)WHO Representative to Vietnam Kidong Park took the occasion to invite Deputy PM Dam, who is head of the National Committee on Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, to participate in this year’s World TB Day global campaign.
The theme of the World TB Day 2021 – “The clock is ticking” – conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB. The WHO is urging countries to implement ten priority recommendations to put the world on track to reach agreed targets by 2022 and beyond.
It is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put the End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.
According to the WHO, TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Each day, over 4,000 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.
In 2015, world leaders committed to ending the global TB epidemic by 2030 and they reaffirmed their commitment to fighting the disease at the UN General Assembly’s High-level Meeting on Fight to End TB in 2018. It is expected to have around 40 million people worldwide provided with access to diagnosis and treatment by 2022.
Heads of State and Government committed to mobilise sufficient and sustainable financing from all sources for universal access to quality TB prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. They aim to increase overall global investments for ending TB at least 13 billion USD annually by 2022.
Vietnam has seen considerable progress in reducing TB burden. The number of new cases founded in 2020 dropped 3.1 percent from 170,000 in the previous year./.
VNA
