Vietnam Heart Association, Novartis Vietnam partner to promote cardiovascular education

VNHA, Novartis Vietnam signed the collaboration agreement on implementing the second phase of the Tam Diem virtual talk show series on cardiology for HCPs in Vietnam

The agreement reflects the shared ambitions of Novartis and the VNHA to drive local cardiovascular education and discover potential synergies between the two parties in the future.

Under the scope of the agreement, Novartis and the VNHA will collaborate to roll out “Tam Diem” in the period of 2021-2022. The programme schedule will include 75-minute virtual talks biweekly on Thursday (from 20:00 to 21:15) which are stylised as medical morning talks for 5,000 registered members including cardiovascular patients, caregivers, and specialists.

Each show will be live-streamed on four digital platforms (Zoom, Facebook, Docquity application, and the Tam Diem website), aiming to serve 5 per cent of online view and 40 per cent of on-demand view of total members.

“We see the rise in cardiometabolic conditions across Vietnam, creating a huge strain on patients, their families, and our healhtcare system. Our mission at Novartis is to reimagine medicine and this inspires us every day to look for innovative ways to help patients, strengthen communities and build a more equitable healthcare system for all. We are privileged to collaborate with the VNHA to enhance cardiovascular education and help HCPs in the field better meet the needs of patients,” said Rachel O’Neale, Country Pharma Organization head, Novartis Vietnam. “We know that doctors today have very little time for their own education. Tam Diem is our answer to this problem. Together with the VNHA, we will grow Tam Diem into a highly regarded source of up-to-date information for HCPs to bring the latest cardiovascular treatment methods to patients in Vietnam.”

According to assoc. prof. Dr. Pham Manh Hung, vice president of the VNHA, director of the Vietnam Heart Institute, the field of cardiology is constantly evolving and high-quality continuing education has become a key need of HCPs.

The signing ceremony was held virtually due to COVID-19

“We highly appreciate Novartis’s contribution to making cardiovascular education accessible to the local medical community. We hope HCPs will be able to apply the knowledge acquired through Tam Diem to their clinical practices to improve patient treatment outcomes and elevate the quality of public health services in Vietnam,” he added.

In recent years, the number of cardiovascular patients has been on the rise. According to a journal of the American College of Cardiology released in December 2020, prevalent cases of cardiovascular diseases nearly doubled from 271 million in 1990 to 523 million in 2019. Particularly, in Vietnam, three out of 10 people were reported to have diseases of the circulatory system and eight out of 10 cardiovascular patients did not reach their treatment target.

Much of this shortfall is ascribed to the limited access of local HCPs to the latest technologies and practices continuously developed by the global medical industry. As a fortunate side-effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic, digital communication has emerged and revolutionised how HCPs can achieve higher standards of learning through digital channels.

With diverse formats of virtual talks such as CardioTalk, CardioRound, and CardioCase, the programme creates the eco-system of Tam Diem, offering HCPs a direct connection to established experts to discover, learn, and share best practices with industry peers.

The second phase of Tam Diem will be rolled out from June 2021 to January 2022, featuring industry experts. These dialogues will aim to generate discussions on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as venous thromboembolism, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure and cardiomyopathy, the use of AI in cardiovascular diseases and preoperative cardiac risk assessment, among others.

In addition, Tam Diem will also update HCPs on the latest guidelines, clinical trials, and scientific news from internationally acclaimed conferences organised by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), among others.

The 2020 series of Tam Diem talks also gathered immense positive feedback from industry professionals. The project included 32 weekly virtual talks across the cardiovascular continuum aired on multiple channels, attracting 4,000 registered members.

Over recent years, Novartis has been recognised as a global pharmaceutical company in cardiovascular metabolism therapeutic areas (CVM TA) with a strong portfolio in hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, and upcoming dyslipidemia treatment.

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