HÀ NỘI — A short message service (SMS) campaign is being held from March 10 to May 5, 2019 to mobilise financial sources to help needy Tuberculosis patients in Việt Nam.

The event is a joint effort of the National Lung Hospital, the National Tuberculosis Prevention Programme, the Patients Support Foundation to End Tuberculosis (PASTB) and the National Humanitarian Information Portal 1400.

People can support the programme by texting “TB” to 1402. Each text message will contribute VNĐ18,000 (US$0.79) to the fund.

PASTB will use the collected money to provide health insurance cards, examinations and treatments to TB patients and help them to integrate back into the community after successful treatment.

Organisations and individuals can also donate by transferring money directly to the fund’s bank account (Account Number: 16010000288699, Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam, Branch 3) or to the fund office at 463 Hoàng Hoa Thám Street, Ba Đình District, Hà Nội.

The hospital said that the fund last year received 23,232 SMS messages, equivalent to VNĐ418,176,000 (US$17,800). The fund has used the money to help more than 100 patients in need.

According a report by the World Health Organisation, Việt Nam had 124,000 new TB cases in 2017, of which the National Tuberculosis Prevention Programme detected more than 100,000. The remaining cases remain undetected in the community. It is estimated that more than 12,000 people died from the disease in 2017, higher than number of people killed by traffic accidents. — VNS