For the first time, mental health is included in the draft Law on Disease Prevention.

For the first time, the draft Law on Disease Prevention has provisions on mental health. These are very new provisions aimed at early detection of risk factors for preventive measures, as well as stipulating the rights and responsibilities of organizations, individuals and society, of the patient's family, especially the responsibilities of authorities at all levels related to mental health.

According to Mr. Pham Duc Manh, Deputy Director of the Department of Disease Prevention ( Ministry of Health ), the draft Law on Disease Prevention is being submitted to the 15th National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 10th session.

The draft law adds regulations on people being entitled to periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year from 2026.

Mr. Manh said that the health sector is shifting strongly from a mindset focused on "medical examination and treatment" to "proactive disease prevention", "early disease prevention, from afar, from the grassroots", focusing on protecting, caring for, and improving health comprehensively and continuously throughout the life cycle according to Resolution 72 of the Politburo .

In addition, the draft also adds regulations on preventing and combating mental health disorders, considering mental health an inseparable part of overall health.

Mr. Pham Duc Manh shared about the first time mental health was included in the draft Law on Disease Prevention.

The draft Law outlines risk factors for mental health disorders for early detection and preventive measures. Accordingly, subjects at high risk of mental health disorders are screened, detected early, monitored, provided with appropriate psychosocial support and treatment, to prevent worsening or worsening of mental health. "At the same time, it also stipulates the responsibilities of social protection facilities, medical examination and treatment facilities related to mental health examination, and the responsibilities of authorities at all levels related to mental health. This is a very new and important content that has not been specifically regulated before," said Mr. Manh.

According to Mr. Manh, if the Law on Disease Prevention is passed by the National Assembly, there will be documents guiding its implementation. The Ministry of Health will issue professional guidelines to manage mental health risks, monitor and detect early for prevention.

In addition, the draft Law on Disease Prevention also has a new point of adding subjects to the national expanded vaccination program (free vaccination) to institutionalize Resolution 72 of the Politburo.

According to current regulations, the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (2007) stipulates that the National Expanded Immunization Program provides free vaccinations for two groups of subjects: pregnant women and children under 6 years old.

Doctors from the Institute of Mental Health (Bach Mai Hospital) examine patients.

However, in the draft Law on Disease Prevention, the scope has been expanded, the subjects are those at risk in the National Expanded Immunization Program, including: the elderly, people participating in epidemic prevention work, priority policy subjects such as armed forces...

"Expanding these subjects in the National Expanded Immunization Program will aim to vaccinate Vietnamese people for life," Mr. Phi Van Kien, Head of the National Immunization Management Department, Department of Disease Prevention, emphasized.

Another new point in this draft is related to compulsory vaccination. Specifically, the draft proposes to add single-dose vaccination and campaign vaccination to the National Expanded Immunization Program. These two forms of compulsory vaccination will be guaranteed by the state budget, in addition to the current regular vaccination.

The draft Law on Disease Prevention also proposes to take April 7 every year as "Vietnam National Health Day", to spread the spirit of proactive disease prevention among the entire population.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/lan-dau-tien-suc-khoe-tam-than-duoc-dua-vao-du-thao-luat-phong-benh-i787432/