University Medical Center HCMC has signed an agreement with drug company Sanofi-Aventis Vietnam for an online health consultation programme called ‘Ask to become healthier.’

The programme will provide health information from experts, answer questions and improve community understanding of common non-communicable diseases.

It will be in 15 episodes in the form of online inquiry over 12 months with the hospital’s leading experts in cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, rectal cancer, breast cancer, and others replying to questions.

The consultation episodes will be broadcast live on its official Fanpage but also carried on its other media channels on Youtube, Website, Zalo for more people to benefit.

Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease were responsible for over 70 per cent of deaths world-wide last year, equivalent to 41 million people, of whom 15 million were aged 30-69, according to the World Health Organization.

The General Department of Preventive Medicine said in Viet Nam nearly 12 million people suffer from hypertension, three million from diabetes and two million from chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases while there are nearly 126,000 new cases of cancer.

In the event, preventing and treating non-communicable diseases has become a public concern.

Prof Dr Truong Quang Binh, deputy director of the University Medical Center HCMC, said: “With the rise in non-communicable diseases, raising people's awareness is an important task that required joint efforts by organisations and units. For that reason the online counselling programme ‘Ask to become healthier’ will be a reliable information channel that will meet people's need for authentic health information.”

Emin Turan, general manager of general medicine and country lead for Sanofi Indochina, said: “The programme will bring useful and up-to-date content and become a channel to promptly answer all questions related to people's health by experienced medical experts, especially in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic.” VNS