HÀ NỘI — The national committee for tuberculosis prevention and control has been launched following Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s decision.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam is chairman of the committee.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn and deputy chairwoman of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front Trương Thị Ngọc Ánh will be deputy chairman and deputy chairwoman of the committee.

Members of the committee include leaders and officials of different ministries and organisations such as the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Red Cross Society.

The committee’s duty is to help PM Phúc to give guidance to concerned organisations in tuberculosis prevention and control towards eliminating the disease by 2030.

It will also propose with PM Phúc measures and action programmes related to the disease.

The Ministry of Health is responsible for ensuring work facilities for the committee.

A nurse takes care for a patient of tuberculosis at Phạm Ngọc Thạch Hospital in HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Hằng

Around 12,000 people die from tuberculosis each year in Việt Nam - that’s one and half times higher than those killed in traffic accidents over the same period, according to the National Lung Hospital.

Việt Nam is in the world’s top 30 countries with high tuberculosis rates. The country ranks 16th in the number of tuberculosis patients and 13th in the rankings of drug-resistant tuberculosis patients. Seventy per cent are of working age (between 15 and 55).

It is estimated that Việt Nam still has 124,000 newly detected cases each year. — VNS