AS Vietnam tries to eradicate tuberculosis in the country by 2030, its health authorities are proactively seeking to identify early cases among high-risk groups.
Instead of waiting for sick people to show up at hospitals, they are now testing people with new methods that could identify the TB bacteria earlier.
"In the past, the health sector in Vietnam always sat back and waited until people had already developed TB symptoms to begin treatment," Nguyen Viet Nhung, deputy director of the National Lung Hospital, said.
Speaking at a conference on medical cooperation for ending TB in Vietnam, he said health authorities need to be proactive and find people infected with the bacteria before they develop the disease.
According to a Vn Express news report, in the last nine months, the health sector had been using the so-called "Double X" strategy for TB identification with the goal of ending the disease by 2030.
Double X diagnoses TB by using chest X-rays and GeneXpert, a diagnostic method that detects the TB bacteria.
"Double X is a tool to detect the source of infection, allowing early location of the outbreak and create conditions for ending it as soon as possible," Nhung said.
The method involves early diagnosis of tuberculosis including drug-susceptibility testing and systematic screening of contacts and high-risk groups.
It includes treating all the people with TB including those with drug-resistant TB, and providing patient support.
The method has been used in seven areas – Can Tho City, Thai Binh, Nghe An, An Giang, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, and Tien Giang provinces – where 29 vans carrying the X-ray machines and 200 Xpert testing devices go around to test high-risk groups.
With support from the United States Agency for International Development, it will be expanded to 25 other areas.
National Tuberculosis Control Programme deputy head Nguyen Binh Hoa said Vietnam is a country with a high number of TB cases.
Official data shows that every year, the nation with a population of 95 million records 176,000 new cases and 13,000 deaths.
This places a heavy burden on the health system since TB treatment is free, and also on the economy, as labour productivity of recovering patients is low.
The World Health Organisation said in 2018 that Vietnam had the world's 11th highest TB incidence.