Together for a world without tuberculosis

(Baonghean.vn) - March 24th is chosen as 'World Tuberculosis Day' every year to warn about this dangerous disease with many challenges to human health around the world.

Tuberculosis is one of the earliest chronic infectious diseases to appear in humans. In the early 18th century, tuberculosis raged in Europe and America and became the most dangerous epidemic causing the most deaths, 1 in 7 people had tuberculosis. Since 1882, more than 200 million people have died from tuberculosis. Today, under the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, each year in the world, about 9 million people are infected with tuberculosis and nearly 3 million people die from tuberculosis.

Photo: source worldtbday.org

On March 24, 1882, German scientist Robert Koch was the first to announce the discovery of the cause of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, when examining the sputum of a person with pulmonary tuberculosis. His important discovery paved the way for the elimination of this dangerous disease.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of tuberculosis bacilli by R. Koch in 1982, the World Health Organization and the International Union for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases first organized and celebrated March 24, and took that day as World Tuberculosis Day to call for humanity's attention to this dangerous disease.

Since 1998, World Tuberculosis Day (March 24) has been recognized as an official United Nations day and has become an important global health event. However, World Tuberculosis Day is not a day of celebration, because the most powerful killer in human history, tuberculosis, is still raging despite the availability of effective diagnostic and treatment measures.

Rally in response to Tuberculosis Prevention Day. Illustrative photo

World Tuberculosis Day (March 24) is an opportunity to raise public awareness of tuberculosis, and to mobilize governments, donors, civil society and communities to commit to strengthening tuberculosis prevention and control activities within each country and globally.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Vietnam is one of three countries with highly rated research plans. In particular, Vietnam has a specialized research unit with a wide network of research on tuberculosis and lung diseases. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung, Director of the Central Lung Hospital, was the first Vietnamese to be elected to the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Council on Tuberculosis Control (STAG TB) - the highest management and strategic planning mechanism for tuberculosis control of WHO.

Vietnam is also one of the three leading countries in the strategy to end TB globally, including Vietnam, Brazil and South Africa. One of the factors that has helped Vietnam achieve many achievements in TB prevention is having a guaranteed financial source.

The Vietnamese Government and Ministry of Health have increased their budgets every year and have mobilized international support from the Global Fund with nearly 60 million USD and an additional 20 million USD in incentive budgets for effective implementation of aid. In the 3 years 2015-2017, 42 million USD was approved. Other partner organizations have also provided significant financial and technical support. Although there is still a shortfall compared to the plan, the basics have been ensured.

Propagating to people about tuberculosis at the commune health station. Photo: Document

Despite many achievements, Vietnam's TB prevention and control work still faces difficulties and challenges. The current situation of treatment abandonment is alarming and tends to increase. This causes great difficulties for TB treatment and prevention in the community.

The situation of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is mainly determined by patients not receiving the right treatment, not receiving enough treatment, not following doctors' instructions; doctors do not have enough time to advise patients and do not actively support patients. Meanwhile, people and local authorities have not fully appreciated the importance of tuberculosis prevention.

Most people with tuberculosis are poor and are the main breadwinners in their families. Even though tuberculosis medicine is provided free of charge, they still face many difficulties in pursuing continuous treatment for 8 months until they are cured. Tuberculosis patients need money for food and transportation while in the hospital. They even have to earn money to support their families and send their children to school. Tuberculosis patients always need material support from the government and the sharing and support of the community.

Tracheal endoscopy to diagnose tuberculosis at Nghe An Tuberculosis and Lung Hospital. Photo courtesy

We have raised the slogan “Tuberculosis prevention is the responsibility of the whole society”, the idea of ​​socializing tuberculosis prevention work is a correct policy. To successfully socialize tuberculosis prevention work, it requires each individual in the community, regardless of their work position or social status, to fully promote their own responsibilities to make practical contributions to tuberculosis prevention work.

Whether or not the TB prevention work in each province achieves its goals depends on the attention, direction, investment in human resources, finance and the development of appropriate remuneration policies for TB prevention staff by Party leaders and authorities at all levels, and also on the attention, support and cooperation of departments, branches and organizations.

Preventing tuberculosis, caring for and protecting people's health is one of the important criteria for socio-economic development of the Party committee and government in each locality.

Peace

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