Vietnam ranks 4th out of 10 countries in terms of readiness to take care of their own health.

On November 15th, the Institute of Health Strategy and Policy (Ministry of Health) and Opella Vietnam announced the results of the study "Assessing Vietnam's readiness for self-care and influencing factors".

Results of the assessment of self-care readiness in Vietnam.

The study, conducted from June 2025 to December 2025, is based on the Global Health Care Federation's toolkit, comprising four key factors and fourteen component indicators. This toolkit has already been implemented in 20 countries worldwide .

Research and surveys conducted in four provinces and cities—Phu Tho, Bac Ninh, Hue City, and An Giang— show that these localities achieved 3.04 points out of 4, ranking fourth in international comparisons, after Singapore, Australia, and Germany.

The scores for the four key factors include: support and acceptance from stakeholders; patient and consumer empowerment; health policies on self-care; and the legal environment. Of the 14 component indicators, 9/14 scored between 3 and 3.75 points, reflecting a relatively good but uneven level of readiness across different areas.

Representatives from the Institute of Health Policy and Strategy (Ministry of Health) shared the research findings.

The study also points out future priorities including: strengthening mainstream communication on self-care; accelerating the deployment of integrated electronic health records (VNeID) to expand people's ability to independently access their medical history, tests, medications, etc.; promoting the application of electronic labels for medicines, especially over-the-counter drugs, to enhance access to information about medicines; and piloting self-care models in the community as a basis for developing a national strategy or plan on self-care.

According to Dr. Nguyen Khanh Phuong, Director of the Institute of Health Strategy and Policy, research results show that Vietnam has favorable foundations to promote self-care, but there is still much room for improvement through official media, medical consultations, and solutions to help people access information on safe self-care. This is the right time to gradually develop national models and orientations for self-care.

According to Dr. Valentina Belcheva, General Director of Opella Vietnam and Cambodia, this research is an important step forward, helping to better understand the needs and barriers of people in their journey of self-care. Opella is committed to continuing to promote self-care through raising consumer awareness, distributing quality products, and promoting products responsibly, so that health is truly in the hands of every Vietnamese citizen.

THANH SON

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/viet-nam-dung-thu-410-quoc-gia-san-sang-tu-cham-soc-suc-khoe-post828833.html