Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has committed to wiping out tuberculosis (TB) in Vietnam by 2030 while addressing the High-Level TB Meeting, held on the sidelines of the 73^rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien. (Photo: VNA)

The Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee has issued a resolution which aims to basically eradicate TB by 2030 and the Vietnamese Government has also rolled out a national end TB strategy, the official said.

She pledged that Vietnam will join international efforts to ensure no inpidual nor country is left behind in the struggle to end the epidemic.

Although Vietnam has completed the millennium development goal of reducing TB, the country reports up to 13,000 deaths and 126,000 new cases due to the epidemic each year, Minister Tien pointed out.

In her remarks, Deputy U.N. Secretary-General Amina Mohammed described TB as a “vicious epidemic”, which infects some 10.4 million people across the world, and is fuelled by poverty, inequality, migration and conflict.

Better health and social welfare systems and more investment are needed to halt this global health crisis, and better tools are needed to overcome anti-microbial resistance, as 60,000 drug-resistant cases of TB are reported every year, she said.

Mohammed said the WHO will lead cross-U.N. efforts to support governments, working together with civil society and all partners to tackle TB.

The meeting concluded with the adoption of an ambitious Political Declaration on TB, endorsed by Heads of State, which is intended to strengthen action and investments for ending of TB, and save millions of lives./.

VNF/VNA