Vietnam Calls for Int’l Supports for Anti-TB Efforts

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan called for continuous supports from the Global Fund and the international community for Vietnam’s struggle with tuberculosis (TB). Nhan made his call at the 18th Coordinating Board Meeting of the Global Stop TB Partnership in Hanoi on May 4, while praising its anti-TB activities in Vietnam, state media reported. Vietnam finds it difficult in detect and control TB due to its own geographical and climatic characteristics, noted Nhan. According to the World Health Organization, Vietnam now ranks 12th among the 22 countries with the highest number of TB patients in the world, with approximately 150,000 TB patients and 12,000 TB and HIV infections detected yearly. The rise in TB cases is put down to ineffective measures to control the disease, drug abuse by HIV-infected young people, a shortage of medical workers and a failure by patients to abide by treatment methods.