HÀ NỘI – Patients in Việt Nam with respiratory problems will benefit from a programme signed on Wednesday between the Ministry of Health’s Medical Service Administration (MSA) and AstraZeneca Việt Nam.

The US$1-million programme is part of the ‘Healthy Lung’ initiative of AstraZeneca that aims to improve the quality of outpatient management of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in nine countries in Asia. Việt Nam is the first country to implement the programme.  

It will be executed by the MSA in collaboration with AstraZeneca Việt Nam, the Việt Nam Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Association, Việt Nam Respiratory Society and the HCM City Society of Asthma and Allergy and Clinical Immunology until 2020.

“Early detection and effective management of asthma and COPD outpatients is a sustainable measure in disease control. Enhancing community’s awareness on disease prevention and health worker’s diagnosis and treatment capabilities would be important activities to ensure patient’s access to early diagnosis and professional treatment services at healthcare facilities,” Director of MSA, Lương Ngọc Khuê, said at the signing ceremony.

The three-year programme will focus its activities on addressing the current gap in asthma and COPD management by raising awareness of these diseases and enhancing access to available treatments through a country-wide patient education project.

In addition, it will work on improving outpatient management of asthma and COPD through the establishment of 150 centres specialising in these diseases nationwide and fully equipped with spirometers and trained healthcare professionals.

It is estimated that over 4.2 per cent of Việt Nam’s population suffers from COPD. It is worrying that most of them are not currently diagnosed due to the lack of medical facilities, poor awareness of patients and limitations on professional skills of public health, according to the health ministry.

It is also estimated that over 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma with the majority of deaths concentrated in low and middle-income countries such as Việt Nam. — VNS