Go Vap District launches project to take care of TB patients

Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District is launching a project for raising standards of treatment for tuberculosis patients starting March 27.

Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District is launching a project for raising standards of treatment for tuberculosis patients starting March 27.

The project is targeted to reduce death tolls and new cases in public and private clinics. Doctors will be providing consultations for patients in the community.

This project will end in 2015.

Vietnam experiences 30,000 deaths each year due to the disease. The country rakes 12th out of 22 with highest rate of TB.

Currently the rate of new patients each year is 1.6 percent with only 41 percent receive successful treatment.

The project is sponsored by the municipal Public Health Association, Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital, the Preventative Medicine Center, and Otsuka and Freundeskreis Fur Internationale Tuberkulosehilfe Company.

TB is an infectious bacterial disease that commonly affects the lungs, according to the World Health Organization. It is extremely contagious due to its transmission through respiration. Symptoms include excessive coughing, coughing blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever, and night sweats.

Many people with healthy immune systems do not experience any symptoms. The disease is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.

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