Medical news August 27: Ho Chi Minh City expands free health check-ups for people aged 60 and over

Ho Chi Minh City expands free health check-ups for people aged 60 and over

According to the plan just issued by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, from now until the end of 2025 and in the following years, all people aged 60 and over will receive a periodic health check-up once a year. The funding for the program will be drawn from the city budget.

Illustration photo.

The program aims to detect non-communicable diseases early, especially common diseases in the elderly such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. At the same time, the city aims to have at least 80% of the elderly receive annual health check-ups and have their health records established for long-term management and monitoring.

Previously, from the beginning of 2024, Ho Chi Minh City has implemented free health check-ups for all elderly people, regardless of permanent or temporary residence, after a pilot phase in some communes and wards at the end of 2023.

After two years of implementation, the city's health sector has examined more than 526,000 people, of which more than 49,000 people were found to have high blood pressure that had never been previously diagnosed, accounting for about 15%. This is an important warning because high blood pressure is considered a "silent killer", which can lead to dangerous complications such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure if not controlled.

Ho Chi Minh City is currently the locality with the fastest population aging rate in the country, with the proportion of people over 60 years old accounting for about 10.5% of the population.

Along with that, the birth rate is only 1.43, the lowest in the country. The low birth rate and rapidly aging population are putting increasing pressure on the city's health care system, social security and welfare policies.

The expansion of the free health check-up program not only helps improve the quality of life for the elderly, but is also an important step in Ho Chi Minh City's long-term strategy to respond to the challenges of an aging population and increasing demand for health care.

Previously, at the launching ceremony of the program "Comprehensive healthcare access - For a healthier Vietnam by 2025" held on August 2 in Bac Ninh, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan emphasized that one of the three major orientations of the health sector today is to make universal health check-ups a national health goal.

When people are detected early at risk of disease, receive health advice and monitoring right at their local level, the new healthcare system can truly reduce the burden on upper-level hospitals, reduce treatment costs and at the same time improve the quality of life for the whole society.

Ho Chi Minh City records 15 deaths due to dengue fever

Since the beginning of 2025, Ho Chi Minh City has recorded more than 26,000 cases of dengue fever, an increase of more than 220% over the same period last year. Notably, there have been 15 deaths, nearly 8 times higher than the same period in 2024, when only 2 cases were recorded.

At the launching ceremony of the campaign to kill mosquitoes and larvae to prevent dengue fever and Chikungunya, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Huynh Minh Chin commented that the situation is becoming complicated, with dengue fever cases increasing dramatically with alarming numbers.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), in just the past week, the city recorded more than 2,500 new cases, an increase of 38% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The health sector predicts that the number of cases will continue to increase as the city enters the peak of the rainy season, when the epidemic often breaks out strongly.

Dengue fever is caused by the Dengue virus and is transmitted mainly by Aedes mosquitoes. In addition, Chikungunya disease, also transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, has not yet been recorded in Ho Chi Minh City, but has been circulating in Vietnam and there is no vaccine to prevent it, so the risk of re-emergence is entirely possible.

Doctors recommend that people prevent the disease by avoiding mosquito bites and actively destroying mosquito breeding grounds. Specifically, it is necessary to sleep under mosquito nets even during the day, wear long-sleeved clothes, and use mosquito repellent. At the same time, it is necessary to remove objects that contain stagnant water such as bottles, old tires, gutters, jars, etc.; change the water in flower vases and flower pots at least once a week and cover water containers tightly.

The health sector is also coordinating with local authorities to carry out mosquito larvae eradication campaigns, spray insecticide on a large scale, and call on people to actively participate.

For dengue fever, Vietnam has licensed the use of vaccines to prevent all four strains of the dengue virus, applicable to people aged 4 years and older, and does not require a blood test before vaccination.

When experiencing symptoms such as high fever, muscle and joint pain, rash, especially after returning from an epidemic area, people need to quickly go to a medical facility for timely examination and treatment to avoid dangerous complications.

Hanoi strengthens disease prevention work to serve the A80 anniversary celebration

To ensure medical safety for activities celebrating the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day September 2, abbreviated as A80, the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC) is synchronously deploying many disease prevention and control measures throughout the city.

On August 25, the Hanoi CDC said that it had established a Steering Committee for epidemic prevention and control and mobile epidemic prevention teams to serve A80 activities. At the same time, it organized inspection teams to monitor environmental sanitation, clean water quality, and spray insecticides in key areas serving the celebration, parade, and march.

One of the focused activities is to closely monitor the health of passengers entering Noi Bai International Airport through body temperature measuring machines and professional measures, in order to promptly detect suspected cases of infectious diseases, especially from epidemic areas.

CDC also coordinates with local health stations to actively monitor hospitals and public and private health facilities to early detect and control epidemics in the area.

Currently, 8 mobile anti-epidemic teams of Hanoi CDC are assigned to be in charge of the two-level government model in 126 new communes and wards after the merger. As of August 24, the teams have supervised and supported epidemic prevention work in 107/126 units and conducted 50 inspections at dengue fever outbreaks to guide the implementation of handling measures.

In particular, Hanoi CDC coordinated with relevant units to organize the first spraying of insecticides at 10 important locations such as Vietnam Exhibition Palace, Hoa Binh Park, August Revolution Square, headquarters at 61 Tran Phu... The second spraying is scheduled to take place on August 26 and 27, under the direction of the Hanoi Department of Health.

Besides, the work of ensuring safe domestic water and environmental sanitation is also seriously implemented.

Hanoi CDC has monitored water quality at 20 water supply facilities in the area, recording that all units fully complied with internal inspection regulations according to QCVN 01-1:2024/BYT. At the same time, the unit organized environmental sanitation monitoring at 11 bus stations, train stations, 13 event areas and hotels, where delegates stayed.

Director of Hanoi CDC Bui Van Hao said that the establishment of the Steering Committee and specialized working groups has helped to provide unified and timely direction in epidemic prevention and control. Currently, the Center has arranged 3 permanent mobile epidemic prevention teams with 6 members each, ready to conduct epidemiological investigations, collect samples and handle emergency epidemic situations.

In addition, Hanoi CDC also assigned specific tasks to departments and divisions such as the Department of Parasitology - Entomology and the Department of Infectious Disease Prevention to carry out environmental monitoring and treatment activities and complete statistical reporting as required to serve the A80 anniversary celebration.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/tin-moi-y-te-ngay-278-tphcm-mo-rong-kham-suc-khoe-mien-phi-cho-nguoi-tu-60-tuoi-d372119.html