Vietnam is one of nine countries in the West Pacific region with
alarming rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) with 10-20 percent of the
population (10-16 million people) living with HBV, according to the
World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is estimated that a
Vietnamese HBV patient spends about 60-200 million VND (3,000- 9,500
USD) a year on medical treatment expenses to cure the disease, which can
last up to two years.
According to the Vietnam Association for
the Study of Liver Diseases, around 10,000 Vietnamese people die every
year from cirrhosis complications and liver cancer. Efforts to eliminate
the virus annually costs the country about 660 trillion VND (31.4
billion USD).
The General Department of Preventive Medicine
under the Ministry of Health (MOH) emphasised the disease can be
life-threatening; serious and fatal liver infections have resulted from
HBV. It can cause chronic infections and puts people at high risk of
death from cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Read more...Labels: epidemiology, statistics, Vietnam, WHO