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In Southeast Asia, in terms of longevity, Vietnamese men rank 5th, and women rank 2nd, but on average, they have to live up to 10 years with diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Doctors at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases examine patients - Photo: NGUYEN HIEN
What policies are needed to reduce non-communicable diseases? According to the draft proposal to develop a Law on Disease Prevention, the work of caring for, protecting and improving people's health drafted by the Ministry of Health, it points out the shortcomings and problems of Vietnamese people's health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), among 10 Southeast Asian countries, Vietnamese men's life expectancy ranks 5th and Vietnamese women's life expectancy ranks 2nd. Over the past 15 years, the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people has increased from 73.3 years to 73.7 years. In addition, many indicators have also improved, such as reducing the rate of malnourished children, maternal and child health care, etc.
However, the Ministry of Health stated that although Vietnamese people have a higher life expectancy than other countries in the region, the number of years living with illness is higher than other countries. On average, each Vietnamese person has to live with illness for 10 years. This greatly affects the quality of life and reduces the number of healthy years.
The main cause of illness is the increase in non-communicable diseases, commonly cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes.
The Ministry of Health also stated that Vietnam is facing an increasingly serious increase in non-communicable diseases. The burden of non-communicable diseases accounts for more than two-thirds of the total burden of disease and death nationwide, and is also the leading cause of death.
According to experts, there are three important reasons why the number of years Vietnamese people live with illness is high: diet, lifestyle and polluted environment.
The Ministry of Health assessed that people's awareness of non-communicable disease prevention is still limited. Meanwhile, some localities have not allocated at least 30% of the health budget for preventive medicine to improve the quality of health care for the people, and in some localities the proportion of the health budget for preventive medicine is still very low.
The Ministry of Health has proposed policies to prevent non-communicable diseases such as guidelines on how to identify the risk of non-communicable diseases; organize screening, early diagnosis and management of some chronic diseases; newborn screening, prenatal screening; organize activities to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases.
The Ministry of Health believes that if these policy solutions are implemented, financial investment will help Vietnam prevent, control and detect early treatment of non-communicable diseases. This will help reduce the cost of treating non-communicable diseases and the consequences caused by non-communicable diseases.
According to the 2021 national survey on non-communicable disease risk factors led by the Ministry of Health, nearly 21% of the Vietnamese population aged 15 and over smoke, with one-third of the population having been exposed to cigarette smoke. Nearly two-thirds of men drink alcohol.
In particular, the level of physical activity of the population is still low, nearly 1/4 of the population lacks physical activity (not reaching the level recommended by WHO) and nearly 1/5 of the population is overweight or obese.
Among the causes of non-communicable diseases, smoking and overweight and obesity are the two leading causes.
According to Dr. Do Hung Kien, head of internal medicine department 1 of K Hospital, tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer and a series of other cancers such as bladder cancer, hypopharynx cancer, oral cavity cancer, etc.
In addition to active smoking, passive smoking also greatly affects health.
Experts warn that smoking also causes cardiovascular disease, stroke, aortic dissection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and the risk of tuberculosis and other infections.
Associate Professor Nguyen Anh Tuan - Head of the Department of Digestive Surgery, 108 Central Military Hospital - said that obesity is the source of more than 200 diseases, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, fatty liver, musculoskeletal diseases, infertility...
In addition, obesity also increases the risk of death compared to other patients with normal weight.
Many studies around the world have shown that being overweight and obese is related to many common cancers such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, uterine cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, biliary tract cancer, ovarian cancer, spinal cord cancer, meningitis cancer...
According to Dr. Tuan, obesity is an "epidemic" that greatly affects health, so solutions are needed to control obesity.
In addition, the living environment in many places in Vietnam is heavily polluted by domestic and production waste, which is also the cause of disease. In addition to objective causes, there is also a subjective factor that people's awareness of maintaining personal hygiene and environmental hygiene is still limited.
The Vietnamese diet also has many health consequences. About 59% of the population does not eat enough vegetables and fruits compared to the recommendation (each person needs to eat at least 5 servings, equivalent to 400g per day).
Notably, up to 78% of the population always or often add salt or salty seasonings to their food. On average, an adult consumes 8.1g of salt per day.
According to Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung, National Institute of Nutrition, WHO recommends that an adult should only eat less than 5g of salt/day. However, according to current statistics, Vietnamese people are eating nearly double the recommendation.
According to Tuoi Tre