An art performance welcomes the campaign launching ceremony. — VNS Photo Thu Trang

HÀ NỘI — A communication campaign to raise awareness of lung cancer was launched on Sunday in Hà Nội.

The communication campaign “Love your lungs” with the theme “Early detection, early treatment” was launched by the Bright Future Fund, in coordination with AstraZeneca Việt Nam Co Ltd.

“Love your lungs” is a project of the Bright Future Fund and their partners which are different lung and oncology hospitals across the country.

The campaign targets improving the community’s awareness of early detection of lung cancer, raising the number of patients receiving early diagnosis for the disease with advanced technology, and working with hospitals to give screening to people at high risk.

During the campaign, as many as 500 people who are over 50 years old or facing high risks of lung cancer received free-of-charge examination, X-ray and consultancy.

If any problem was discovered, they will be introduced to specialised hospitals for further examination.

Also under the campaign, the Bright Future Fund kicked off the website thuongphoi.vn to supply official information related to lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. Inspirational stories about lung cancer patients are also available on the website.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Trần Văn Thuấn, Deputy Minister of Health, said: “The campaign has great scale and meaning for the community. All of the community please work together to repel lung cancer.”

“Organisations should bring cancer screening and lung cancer screening in particular to their periodic health examination for a healthy and strong Việt Nam,” he said.

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Việt Nam Co Ltd, said that the company’s cooperation in the campaign expressed its steady commitment and efforts for patients’ rights.

“With the “Love your lungs’ campaign, we hope that every resident will receive information and knowledge to have lucid decision and in time action for their health,” he said.

“Together, we push back lung cancer so that it will not be a leading cause of death in the world,” he said.

Associate professor Nguyễn Thị Xuyên, former deputy minister of health and chairwoman of the Bright Future Fund, said that the fund was founded in 2011 under a decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

During the past 12 years, the fund has supported treatment for more than 28,000 poor cancer patients across the country with a total fund of more than VNĐ30 billion (US$1.2 million).

It has supplied medicines for cancer patients worth VNĐ400 billion ($16.8 million).

The Global Cancer Statistics GLOBOCAN 2020 showed that in Việt Nam, lung cancer is the second most common disease, with about 23 cases per 100,000 residents, and 21.9 fatalities per 100,000 residents.

Only 30 per cent of the patients were discovered at early stage of the disease. — VNS