MoH and AstraZeneca partner on care for non-communicable diseases

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Deputy Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Nguyen Truong Son, British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew, and Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe, and attended by leaders of departments, hospitals, and professional associations.

CaReMe stands for cardio, renal, and metabolic conditions – a group of closely related diseases – and also Care for Me, calling on people to take care of their health early. In three years, the programme aims to reach at least 500,000 people in Vietnam through disease awareness and early screening activities.

The MSA and AstraZeneca Vietnam signed the MoU to partner on the CaReMe – Love Yourself programme

The programme aims to raise public awareness of CaReMe, provide standardised toolkits for the early detection of CaReMe disease risk factors at more than 20 local healthcare facilities, enhance the quality of CaReMe diseases management through developing and standardising clinical guidance, and pilot the CaReMe outpatient unit model.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, vice chairman of the National Medical Council and Director of the MSA

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, vice chairman of the National Medical Council and Director of the MSA said, “Building a comprehensive disease management model will be critical, meaningful, and sustainable to address CaReMe diseases as they are closely interlinked. We strongly believe that by partnering with AstraZeneca, the CaReMe programme will contribute to lessening the burden from cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases in Vietnam."

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Vietnam and Asia Area Frontier Markets

Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Vietnam and Asia Area Frontier Markets commented, "Healthcare has become more important than ever as we emerge from the pandemic. Besides communicable diseases, we hope more people will recognise that cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases, such as heart failure, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, have actually been among the leading causes of death in Vietnam."

"Under the leadership of the MSA and the MoH, and with the partnership of leading medical associations, our programme will cover the whole patient journey, through which we’ll better address the needs of people living in different communities and economic situations across Vietnam,” he added.

Cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and renal diseases account for most of the local non-communicable diseases and fatality burden, with a relatively high co-morbidity rate. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to ensure the effective management and prevention of these illnesses, however, there continue to be challenges that affect patients’ early access to these healthcare services.

AstraZeneca has been supporting the local health system for years. Besides the CaReMe programme, the company is also working closely with the government, the MoH, and medical partners in several other initiatives such as the Healthy Lung and Young Health Programmes, and the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience that have been improving the lives of millions of patients and creating a positive impact on the quality of healthcare in Vietnam.

Nearly 50,000 young people in Vietnam benefit from Young Health Programme AstraZeneca’s Young Health Programme (YHP) – a global disease prevention programme – has delivered substantial health benefits for Vietnamese youth over the past three years of implementation.

AstraZeneca enhancing sustainability and resilience of healthcare system The Health Strategy and Policy Institute (HSPI) under the Ministry of Health and AstraZeneca Vietnam on July 20 signed an MoU to commence the Partnership for the Vietnamese Health System’s Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) programme in 2022-2025.

Health financing tops response priorities In light of profound pandemic impacts, Vietnam is moving to cooperate with international stakeholders to increase the sustainability and resilience of the health system, with health financing being among the top priorities ahead.

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine preventing over 230,000 deaths in Vietnam AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been estimated to have prevented 232,766 deaths in Vietnam, according to an independent assessment of vaccine effectiveness conducted by Airfinity.

AstraZeneca to increase early patient access to new medicines in Vietnam Last week marked an important step in AstraZeneca’s journey in Vietnam. On his visit to Hanoi, Dr. John L. Perez, senior vice president of the Vaccines and Immune Therapies Unit at AstraZeneca, talked to VIR’s Bich Thuy about the company’s future ambition and ongoing efforts to increase Vietnamese patients’ early access to new medicines.