HÀ NỘI — A campaign to improve community awareness on hypertension control and prevention was launched at a ceremony today to mark World Hypertension Day which is on May 17.

The project, titled First day of my hypertension life, is being held under the Journee Medical Việt Nam-France co-operation programme between the Việt Nam Cardiovascular Association (VCA) and Sevier Việt Nam and is being sponsored by the Ministry of Health and the French embassy in Hà Nội.

The project aims to strengthen awareness on hypertension-related diseases by encouraging patients to practice a healthy lifestyle and follow the treatment for better hypertension control, which will help them manage the disease better.

Vietnamese doctors will be trained on advanced measures to treat hypertension and techniques to provide consultation to patients.

A website on hypertension, ngaydautien.vn, will be launched tomorrow that will provide the latest information and enable patients to share their experiences with others suffering from the disease and their families.

“Hypertension is growing at an alarming rate in Việt Nam. It can cause dangerous complications, even leading to sudden death,” VCA Chairman Prof. Nguyễn Lân Việt said at the event.

Việt said a survey on hypertension in 2015 revealed that the percentage of Vietnamese people aged 25 or more with hypertension-related diseases had increased to 47.3 per cent, compared with 25.1 per cent in 2008. An estimated 39 per cent of people who are believed to have the disease remain undiagnosed.

According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) statistics, there are some 1.5 billion people suffering from hypertension. Some 17.5 million people die of hypertension-related diseases worldwide each year. — VNS