Vietnamese life expectancy increases, but disease patterns change

The average life expectancy of Vietnamese people has increased to 74 years, but Vietnam is also one of the countries with the lowest healthy life expectancy. From the age of 64, Vietnamese people often have chronic diseases and 10 years later, each person has an average of 3 comorbidities.

These are the shares of Dr. Truong Hong Son, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Medical Association, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine at the seminar "Community health care - sustainable solutions for development" organized by Nhan Dan Newspaper on the morning of September 18.

According to Dr. Son, if 50 years ago, Vietnamese people's life expectancy was very low and they mainly died from infectious diseases (cholera, dysentery, other infectious diseases), now Vietnamese people's life expectancy has increased to 74 years old, but the disease pattern has changed.

The average life expectancy of Vietnamese people has increased to 74 years, almost equal to other countries, but the number of healthy years is low - 64 years. On average, the elderly in Vietnam have 3 chronic diseases.

Dr. Truong Hong Son (second from right) and experts participating in the discussion.

Meanwhile, the Japanese have a longer life expectancy of 86 years and their health is much higher. Japanese people can live healthily until 80 years old. "We have made progress but the health of Vietnamese people still has many problems. We need to focus on improving health and ensuring better health to improve the quality of life."

Resolution 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health, sets the target that by 2030, the average life expectancy will reach 75.5 years, of which the number of healthy years will reach at least 68 years; by 2045, the average life expectancy will reach over 80 years, of which the number of healthy years will increase to over 71 years.

To do this, according to Dr. Son, a comprehensive strategy is needed, that is, people must be monitored and have good primary health care, and have regular health check-ups to proactively prevent diseases. In addition to improving disease prevention knowledge, people must also pay attention to health care, maintain a healthy lifestyle and a scientific diet with adequate micronutrients.

" The Politburo has just issued Resolution 72 and the upcoming Law on Disease Prevention both emphasize disease prevention. This is to ensure that people have less contact with sources of infection and improve their physical health," said Dr. Son.

According to the Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, currently, non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death, but one of the important causes is nutrition and lifestyle. There is currently a "double burden" of nutrition, meaning that in addition to facing malnutrition, there is also overweight and obesity.

Dr. Phan Bich Nga shared at the seminar.

Sharing at the seminar, Dr. Phan Bich Nga - Head of the Department of Pediatric Nutrition Examination, National Institute of Nutrition said that the rate of malnutrition in our country has decreased but compared to other countries in the region, it is still high. Besides, overweight, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies are increasing. Knowledge about nutrition as well as nutritional disease prevention has not received due attention.

"In the community, according to some research results in some specific regions, there is not only malnutrition but also overweight and obesity. This situation is long-lasting and is affecting public health, such as metabolic disorders, vitamin A deficiency, Omega 3 deficiency... Some micronutrient supplementation programs have been implemented, some since the 1980s, but they are also very difficult to implement. Anemia and iron deficiency are relatively high. Vitamin A deficiency is also the same, but now there is a program to prevent vitamin A deficiency, so the rate of vitamin A deficiency has decreased," Dr. Nga informed.

According to Resolution 72, the goal by 2030 is to increase the average height of children and adolescents from 1 to 18 years old by at least 1.5cm; by 2045, the average stature, physical strength, and height of young people will be equivalent to that of countries with the same level of development.

To ensure the improvement of Vietnamese people's stature, according to Dr. Nga, first of all, children must have enough energy (do not let children be skinny), must have enough micronutrients; the food used must be fresh, avoid using old food (micronutrients will be low). Dishes need to be prepared simply (steamed, stir-fried, boiled) to retain many vitamins and minerals.

Dr. Nga also emphasized that school meals play an important role, accounting for 50% of children's daily diet, so it is necessary to ensure adequate micronutrients for physical and intellectual development. To limit children from being overweight, obese, or malnourished, teachers and caregivers need to have knowledge of nutrition to guide obese children to reduce rice, reduce greasy foods, and limit sweet fruits. For malnourished children, instruct them to try to eat more starch, increase protein foods, meat, eggs, grease and fat.

In addition to diet, families need to supplement their children with safe fresh milk to add calcium. For children under 2 years old, it is recommended to use breast milk as the best; for children over 2 years old, it is recommended to use fresh milk for good height development. If the milk portion at school is about 200ml/day, parents should supplement their children with about 100ml at home, which is enough. "Children often eat little seafood, this is a great source of calcium and trace minerals, so they need to drink milk and dairy products to develop height," Dr. Nga shared.

The doctor also recommends to parents that height development depends on 5 important basic vitamins and minerals: Vitamin D, vitamin A, calcium, iron, zinc. These micronutrients are rich in natural foods such as meat, eggs, shrimp, fish, vegetables, fruits and milk.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/y-te/tuoi-tho-nguoi-viet-tang-nhung-mo-hinh-benh-tat-thay-doi-i781720/