Decision No. 255/2006/QĐ-TTg on approving the National Strategy for Preventive Health Care in Vietnam until 2010 and orientations until 2020

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the approval of the National Health Prevention Strategy for Vietnam until 2010 and orientations until 2020

 Vietnam until 2010 and orientations until 2020

___________________

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Based on the Law on People's Health Protection dated June 30, 1989;

Based on Decree No. 49/2003/NĐ-CP dated May 15, 2003 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Health;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Health.

Pursuant to …;

Article 1. Approve the National Health Prevention Strategy for Vietnam until 2010 and orientations until 2020 with the main contents as follows:

Clause 1. Views

a) Active and proactive prevention is the core task to ensure fairness and effectiveness in the cause of protecting, caring for, and improving people's health.

b) Comprehensive prevention with priorities, focusing on preventing and controlling dangerous infectious diseases, especially newly emerging diseases, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition in children; preventing and controlling accidents and occupational diseases. Proactively prevent and control non-communicable diseases and diseases caused by harmful lifestyles.

c) The State ensures the main financial resources for preventive healthcare to promote sustainable national development, yielding economic and social benefits.

d) Implementing preventive healthcare is the responsibility of all levels of government, ministries, sectors, mass organizations, political organizations, socio-political organizations, and each citizen, promoting socialization of preventive healthcare activities, with the health sector playing a core role in technical expertise.

đ) Strengthen and expand international cooperation in preventive healthcare.

2. Objectives of the National Health Prevention Strategy for Vietnam until 2010

a) General objectives

Reduce risk factors affecting community health; detect early and promptly control outbreaks, preventing large-scale epidemics from occurring; reduce incidence and mortality rates due to diseases; contribute to physical and mental development, increase life expectancy, improve quality of life, and enhance genetic quality.

b) Specific Objectives

- Reform awareness and enhance the responsibility of Party committees at all levels, governments, social organizations, communities, and individuals regarding disease prevention and health protection.

- Limit and eventually eliminate risk factors related to infectious diseases.

- Annually reduce by 10% the number of cases and deaths due to infectious disease outbreaks compared to the average during the period 2001-2005. Prevent large-scale outbreaks; maintain achievements in eradicating polio and eliminating neonatal tetanus, reducing the incidence rate to 0.04/100,000 population. Strive to eliminate measles and diphtheria, reducing their incidence rates to 0.1/100,000 population; reduce pertussis incidence to 0.05/100,000 population.

- Actively respond and promptly control new dangerous outbreaks; control the HIV/AIDS infection rate below 0.3% of the population and gradually reduce the number of new infections in the community.

- Limit and eventually control risk factors related to nutrition, environmental health, school-related illnesses, occupational diseases, accidents, non-communicable diseases, and lifestyle-related health-harming behaviors.

3. Orientations until 2020

a) Continue implementing activities to control, eliminate, and eventually eradicate infectious diseases causing outbreaks such as diarrheal diseases (cholera, dysentery, typhoid, worms, flukes...); insect-borne diseases (dengue fever, malaria, Japanese encephalitis...); rabies. Simultaneously apply effective measures to prevent dangerous and newly emerging diseases (HIV/AIDS, SARS, avian influenza A(H5N1)...); be prepared to proactively address biological and chemical terrorism threats.

b) Maintain achievements in eradicating polio and eliminating neonatal tetanus. Further promote the Expanded Immunization Program to eliminate and eradicate common childhood infectious diseases like measles, diphtheria, pertussis, Japanese encephalitis, viral hepatitis, while expanding the use of vaccines for other diseases.

c) Proactively prevent and control non-communicable diseases, environment-related illnesses, occupational diseases, school-related illnesses, harmful lifestyles, accidents, and injuries.

d) Enhance the capacity of the preventive healthcare network towards modernization. Establish and strengthen provincial and district preventive healthcare centers.

4. Measures

a) Policy and social measures group

- Emphasize and strengthen the leadership of Party committees at all levels over preventive healthcare work, making preventive healthcare a key goal in the strategy for economic and social development.

- Increase the responsibility of local governments in directing, urging, monitoring, and inspecting preventive healthcare work; organize and encourage active and proactive participation of mass organizations, social organizations, and the community in preventive healthcare activities.

- Develop, amend, and supplement the legal framework for preventive healthcare. Draft the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases to submit to the National Assembly. Establish special preferential policies for preventive healthcare workers such as epidemic prevention allowances, hazardous working environment allowances, remote area allowances; implement commendation and honor policies for outstanding achievements, timely support for those who become ill, disabled, or sacrifice while participating in epidemic prevention and disaster relief.

- Promote the coordinating and inter-sectoral guidance role of the Health Care Steering Committee under the People's Committees at all levels in the field of preventive healthcare. Improve the efficiency of inter-sectoral coordination activities to mobilize all resources and social components to participate in disease prevention and health care for the people.

- Effectively implement the combined military-civilian health program in preventive healthcare in mountainous, remote, border, and island areas.

- Launch a nationwide movement for collective physical exercise, sports, and fitness to enhance physical and mental health. Integrate preventive healthcare activities for health care and protection into the "All-Voluntary Mass Movement for a Civilized Lifestyle".

- Promote communication and education activities to enhance awareness of the importance and benefits of preventive healthcare. Train knowledge and skills so that individuals, families, and communities can proactively prevent and combat diseases and improve health; prevent lifestyle-related diseases; change behaviors to build healthy lifestyles in the community. Encourage people not to smoke, reduce smoking rates, especially among young people.

b) Group of technical solutions

- Invest in developing modern science, technology, and technology for preventive healthcare. Upgrade research institutes within the preventive healthcare system to better meet the tasks of scientific research, training, and applying new science and technology. Build advanced and modern laboratory systems suitable for disease prevention needs by region and area. Focus on investing in biosafety level III and IV laboratories; laboratories for quantifying toxic substances and residues in food, in human bodies, and in living environments; invest in vaccine and medical product production technology; invest in modern research equipment in molecular biology in the field of preventive healthcare.

- Strengthen monitoring activities to detect new emerging diseases early and organize timely disease control. Apply information technology to strengthen reporting, monitoring systems, and modernize statistical data management, epidemic forecasting systems. Prioritize researching risk factors to serve monitoring, forecasting, and intervention work to control and contain epidemics. Provide surveillance and early detection equipment for county and provincial preventive healthcare centers.

- Continue effectively implementing projects under the National Target Program to eliminate certain social diseases, dangerous epidemics, and HIV/AIDS. Implement programs to prevent and control non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, etc.

- Maintain regular activities to prevent and control epidemics to reduce infection and mortality rates from infectious diseases causing epidemics such as cholera, dengue fever, malaria, typhoid, viral encephalitis, rabies. Eliminate trachoma blindness at the district level, reduce active trachoma rates, and reduce entropion caused by trachoma.

- Implement child health care programs such as preventing and controlling malnutrition, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, rheumatic heart disease, and parasitic worm infections; adolescent health and school health programs. Implement community-based malnutrition prevention activities, provide vitamin A to reduce malnutrition rates in children under five years old. Maintain goiter prevention activities to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders. Reduce iron-deficiency anemia rates in pregnant women.

- Strengthen environmental health and occupational health activities. Implement workplace environmental monitoring activities; prevent and control occupational diseases. Prioritize monitoring and propose measures to handle pollutants harmful to public health such as hospital waste, industrial waste, plant protection chemicals, etc.

- Strengthen and improve the healthcare network in schools; conduct annual health check-ups for students. Reduce student rates of dental, oral, spinal curvature, and myopia diseases.

- Develop plans to prevent and mitigate disaster consequences; prevent and control accidents and injuries, especially traffic accidents, work-related accidents, and occupational diseases. Continue to strengthen accident and injury prevention efforts.

- Implement cancer prevention activities; reduce the impact of harmful environmental factors on human health.

c) Group of solutions regarding organizational structure, investment, and international cooperation

- Improve the organizational system; enhance state management capacity and technical expertise of the preventive healthcare system from central to local levels. Establish and complete an epidemic surveillance and early warning system, effectively apply information technology in management and monitoring of epidemics and diseases.

- Develop planning and prioritize implementation of preventive healthcare doctor training programs in medical universities, while focusing on retraining and upgrading technical skills for preventive healthcare staff to meet and gradually develop human resources for the preventive healthcare system in both quantity and quality.

- Establish national specialized preventive healthcare institutes. Develop a proposal to establish an international biomedical research center to meet Vietnam's needs in disease prevention and control.

- Re-plan the vaccine and medical product production system. Develop appropriate policies for domestic vaccine and medical product production. Invest in biotechnology development to research, produce, and test new vaccines to meet domestic needs, with the goal of exporting.

- Fully implement the planning of the provincial-level preventive healthcare system to promptly and effectively respond to disease prevention and control tasks.

- Develop a proposal to support the development of county-level preventive healthcare centers. Strengthen primary-level preventive healthcare activities.

- Increase state budget investment in preventive healthcare in line with the country's economic and social development pace. Prioritize investment in cities and regions with high population density and high risk of certain diseases and epidemics such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and areas where the preventive healthcare system is underdeveloped such as the Central Highlands, Central Coast, Mekong Delta, and Northern Mountains.

- Enhance mobilization of other legitimate financial sources, particularly from private sources and international organizations.

- Strengthen comprehensive international cooperation in preventive healthcare. Focus on sharing information, experience, training personnel, scientific research collaboration, and high-tech technology development investment.

Article 2. Action Programs

1. Continue to effectively implement action programs on preventive healthcare approved by the Prime Minister.

a) National Target Program on Prevention and Control of Certain Social Diseases, Dangerous Epidemics, and HIV/AIDS.

b) National Action Program on Prevention and Control of Human Influenza Pandemic.

c) Program on Prevention and Control of Child Malnutrition and Disorders Caused by Iodine Deficiency.

2. Develop new action programs to be submitted to the Prime Minister.

a) Program on Strengthening the Capacity of Provincial and District Health Centers.

b) Program on Strengthening Surveillance Systems and Rapid Response Mechanisms to Timely Contain Infectious Diseases.

c) Program on Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases Such As Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancer, Diabetes, etc.

d) Program on Prevention and Control of Accidents and Injuries.

đ) Program on Prevention and Control of School Health Problems and Disabilities.

Article 3. Implementation

1. The Ministry of Health shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries, localities, mass organizations, and social organizations to implement the Strategy; develop action programs and projects as specified in the content of the Strategy to be submitted to the Prime Minister. Prepare annual and long-term plans for implementing the Strategy, while being responsible for coordinating, supervising, and evaluating the results of the Strategy's implementation, and regularly reporting annually to the Prime Minister.

2. People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities shall develop plans and organize the implementation of the Strategy within their jurisdiction and authority. Increase investment in preventive health resources. Direct the health sector and other sectors at the local level to closely cooperate in disease prevention and control tasks, environmental protection, and promoting healthy lifestyles. Launch and direct the Joint Activity Program to enhance health care and protection for the people in the "All-Voluntary Movement for Building a Civilized Lifestyle".

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall allocate funds to implement this Strategy according to annual and long-term plans. Mobilize various sources of aid, loans, and official development assistance for preventive health work.

4. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and related ministries to develop policies for protecting and preventing environmental pollution to prevent disease risks; closely coordinate with the Ministry of Health in organizing the implementation of the National Preventive Health Strategy until 2010 and the orientation until 2020, and the National Environmental Protection Strategy until 2010 and the orientation until 2020.

5. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Health shall, in accordance with their assigned functions and tasks, coordinate with related ministries to continue strengthening guidance on anti-drug and anti-prostitution activities to limit the harm and increase of HIV/AIDS.

6. The Ministry of Transport shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security, and related ministries to strengthen the construction and implementation of traffic safety measures to control and reduce accidents and injuries.

7. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, and related ministries to strengthen the construction and implementation of employment policies, social security guarantees, and occupational safety management measures; ensure health care for students and trainees in vocational training institutions.

8. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to accelerate the implementation of clean water and environmental sanitation programs; manage and monitor the use of chemicals in agriculture.

9. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and related ministries to direct and implement health communication and education programs to prevent and control diseases.

10. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and related ministries to develop national standards in the field of preventive health.

11. The Ministry of Education and Training shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health to develop and implement training programs for preventive health personnel; improve the health network in schools; actively implement solutions to prevent and control school-related diseases, and incorporate health education programs into schools appropriate to each educational level.

12. The Ministry of Trade shall take the lead and coordinate with related ministries to manage and prevent the importation and circulation of counterfeit goods and substandard food products that are harmful to consumers' health and the environment.

13. The Ministry of Home Affairs shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health and related ministries to continue improving organizational structures and developing appropriate policies and systems for preventive health workers.

14. The Ministry of Defense shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Health to ensure disease prevention and control work in the military; implement the combined military-civilian health program well and be ready to participate in disaster relief and mitigation efforts to prevent disease outbreaks.

15. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and its member organizations, political-social organizations, and other social groups shall coordinate with the Ministry of Health to implement the Strategy in relevant fields.

Article 4. This Decision shall take effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 5. THE MINISTERS, HEADS OF GOVERNMENT-LEVEL MINISTRIES, HEADS OF GOVERNMENT-LEVEL AGENCIES, AND CHAIRMEN OF PROVINCE AND CITY PEOPLE'S COMMITTEES DIRECTLY UNDER THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCING THIS DECISION./.