Vietnam is one of seven countries selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct research on the M72 tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, given the fact that they have a high tuberculosis burden, according to Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Binh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Central Lung Hospital and deputy head of the Executive Board of the National TB Program.
The WHO has issued recommendations to promote vaccination against this disease. To date, there are 16 types of TB vaccines that have been studied in clinical trials, of which the research result of the M72 vaccine shows that with at least one injection, this type of vaccine has passed the WHO recommendation level with about 50 percent protection.
According to the WHO's 2023 report, TB is still the second leading cause of death in the world among infectious diseases, only behind the Covid-19. It is worth mentioning that current global goals in TB control are behind schedule.
Vietnam is currently ranked 11th among 30 countries worldwide with the highest burden of TB and multidrug-resistant TB.
The country detected 106,086 TB patients and recorded around 13,000 related deaths in 2023.
The successful treatment rate is maintained at a high level of over 90 percent.
However, Binh noted that there are still more than 40 percent of TB patients in the community who have not been detected and treated.
