Sy said the campaignaims to attract the community’s involvement in TB prevention, increaseauthorities’ commitments and investment for the work and raise people’sunderstanding, while eliminating discrimination against TB patients.
He said during the month in March, the National TB PreventionProgramme will coordinate with Vietnam Red Cross Society, the Ministryof Information and Communications, the World Health Organisation and HoChi Minh Communist Youth Union to organise a meeting and a walk in Hanoiand a writing contest on TB, as well as release a collection of stampson the theme.
Vietnam ranks 12th out of 22countries with a high TB burden and ranks 14th out of 27 countries withthe highest incidence of multidrug-resistant TB in the world. Annually,200,000 Vietnamese people are infected with TB and almost 30,000 diefrom the disease. At the same time, the National TB Prevention Programmecures 92 percent of the patients it treats.
Accordingto Dr Sy, the biggest challenge of the programme is the increasingnumber of cases of HIV/TB infection and multidrug-resistant TB. However,by 2015, Vietnam strives to cut by half of the number of TBpatients from the 2000 estimates and totally eradicate the disease inthe community by 2030.
This year, the World TB Day takes the theme of “Stop TB in my lifetime”./.