76% of Vietnam Tuberculosis Patients Are Farmers

Up to 76% of Vietnamese people suffering from tuberculosis (TB) are farmers, the National Committee on Tuberculosis Control said. These patients mainly come from the northern localities of Son La, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc and Haiphong. The highest rate of TB infection is reported in rural areas, prisons and crowded residential areas where living conditions of local people remained low, environment pollution is high and quality of primary health care services are low. To deal with the matter, the National Hospital of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases have coordinated with the Vietnam Farmers’ Association to open a training course on TB prevention program in Vietnam, which will benefit farmers from 17 provinces and cities. The country reports between 60,000 and 70,000 people catching transmissible tuberculosis (TB) yearly. The infection rate is 61 per 100,000 people, including 88.46% of pulmonary TB and 21.54% of non-pulmonary TB. Vietnam will need $340 million for a plan to halve the number of new tuberculosis patients in the 2011-2015 period, from the 2000’s figure. Vietnam, which now ranks 12th among the 22 countries with the highest number of TB patients worldwide, aims to eliminate the disease by 2030. (An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security June 8 p6, vietnamplus.vn June 7)