Mental health issues proposed to be legislated for the first time

Investing in disease prevention is investing in sustainable development, the "smartest investment" to reduce the huge economic burden caused by disease.

Deputy Director of the Department of Disease Prevention ( Ministry of Health ) - Mr. Pham Duc Manh emphasized this content at the press meeting to inform about the draft Law on Disease Prevention organized by the Ministry of Health today (November 7).

Positive move from the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases to the Law on Disease Prevention

The draft Law on Disease Prevention is built on the basis of inheriting 5 articles and amending 39 relevant articles of the 2007 Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases.

Mr. Pham Duc Manh - Deputy Director of the Department of Disease Prevention spoke.

According to Deputy Director Pham Duc Manh, in the context that the country is still facing the double burden of both infectious diseases and the alarming increase of non-communicable diseases (cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma...) and mental health disorders; as well as improper nutrition leading to limited physical development and stature of Vietnamese people; conditions to ensure disease prevention work are still limited... the development and promulgation of the Law on Disease Prevention with a comprehensive scope of regulation on disease prevention is extremely necessary.

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 a distance, from the grassroots", focusing on protecting, caring for, and improving health comprehensively and continuously throughout the life cycle.

Therefore, the draft Law on Disease Prevention is designed based on 5 major policy groups approved by the Government , including: Prevention and control of infectious diseases; prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; prevention and control of mental health disorders; Nutrition in disease prevention and conditions to ensure disease prevention.

The draft Law on Disease Prevention consists of 6 chapters and 41 articles. The law will fully and comprehensively institutionalize the Party and State's guidelines and policies on disease prevention, which are affirmed in the Constitution: "Everyone has the right to health protection and care, equality in the use of medical services and the obligation to comply with regulations on disease prevention, medical examination and treatment";

In particular, Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health and Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 6th Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee on strengthening the protection, care and improvement of people's health in the new situation.

Supplementing subjects in the expanded immunization program and compulsory vaccination forms

Mr. Phi Van Kien, Head of the National Immunization Management Department, Department of Disease Prevention, spoke.

The basic content of the draft Law on Disease Prevention focuses on two groups. Accordingly, with the group of contents amending and perfecting the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, the draft Law clearly stipulates the method of classifying diseases, infectious epidemics and eliminating and eliminating a number of circulating infectious diseases.

At the same time, regulations on measures to prevent and control infectious diseases and epidemics (such as infectious disease surveillance; medical isolation; medical quarantine; ensuring safety and biosecurity in testing; vaccines, biological products and vaccinations...).

Regarding the content of vaccination, at the information exchange session, Mr. Phi Van Kien, Head of the National Immunization Management Department, Department of Disease Prevention, said that according to the current regulations of the Law on Prevention of Infectious Diseases (2007), the National Expanded Immunization Program provides free vaccinations for two groups of subjects, pregnant women and children under 6 years old.

Implementing Resolution 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo, in the draft Law on Disease Prevention, the drafting agency has expanded the subjects in the National Expanded Immunization Program to include the elderly, subjects participating in epidemic prevention work, priority policy subjects, etc.

"Expanding these subjects in the National Expanded Immunization Program will aim to vaccinate Vietnamese people for life," Mr. Phi Van Kien 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.

In particular, the draft Law has added other measures as prescribed by law on the state of emergency and civil defense when the epidemic exceeds the capacity and conditions to respond and overcome the consequences; the rights and obligations of agencies, organizations and individuals.

Notably, the draft Law stipulates that Vietnam National Health Day is April 7 every year to spread the spirit of "proactive disease prevention" among the entire population.

Preventing and combating mental health disorders - an important part of overall health

Mental health is proposed to be legalized for the first time. Illustration photo

With a new group of additional contents compared to current regulations , the draft Law has focused on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases: regulating disease prevention and control measures, disease risk factors; early detection, disease prevention and disease management in the community.

In particular, the draft Law on Disease Prevention supplements regulations on periodic health check-ups and screening to institutionalize Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo: "People are entitled to periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year from 2026".

In particular, this draft Law pays special attention to the prevention and control of mental health disorders. This is a new addition, mental health is an important part of comprehensive health. The Law stipulates risk factors, early detection and measures to prevent mental health disorders; rights and responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in the prevention and control of mental health disorders;

Along with that, the draft Law on Disease Prevention also focuses on nutrition in disease prevention, emphasizing the principle of implementing nutrition in disease prevention that must be implemented throughout the life cycle, focusing on nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life from pregnancy to children under 24 months old (This is the golden period that determines the physical strength and stature of children due to nutritional factors).

At the same time, the Law specifically regulates nutrition for certain groups of people (pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children under 24 months of age; children, school-age children, workers and the elderly).

"When issued, the Law on Disease Prevention is expected to create a comprehensive legal foundation, contributing to improving the physical and mental health, stature and quality of life of Vietnamese people," said Mr. Pham Duc Manh.

Source: https://suckhoedoisong.vn/lan-dau-tien-van-de-suc-khoe-tam-than-duoc-de-xuat-luat-hoa-169251107162824703.htm