A free walk/running event titled “Move for My Healthy Lung” was held at Hanoi’s Ly Thai To Park on June 24^th, drawing thousands of participants, including people with disabilities and children.

The "Move for My Healthy Lung" running event in Hanoi.

The event was organised by the Central Lung Hospital and the National Tuberculosis Control Programme to mark the 61^st founding anniversary of the Central Lung Hospital (June 24^th). It also aimed to encourage regular physical exercise to improve people’s health and raise public awareness of lung health.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien noted that although the number of TB cases in Vietnam has been significantly reduced, there are hundreds of thousands of new TB patients detected annually while many others are receiving treatment.

In Vietnam, the WHO estimates that there are nearly 130,000 new cases of TB diagnosed each year, resulting in some 16,000 deaths in the Southeast Asian country in 2015.

Vietnam is a leading nation in terms of TB prevention efforts. The rate of successful treatment for multi drug resistant TB in Vietnam is over 70 per cent, much higher than the world’s rate of 54 per cent.

Thanks to early detection and effective treatment, TB-related deaths fell by 3,000 cases during 2015-2016. The country has set a target to cut 30 per cent of TB infection cases and 40 per cent of TB deaths during 2015-2020./.

VNF/VNA