Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Diem from the Department of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health told a recent workshop on non-communicable disease prevention that non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death in Vietnam. Out of every 10 deaths, eight are due to non-communicable diseases.

Non-communicable diseases are chronic, are not transmitted from person to person, and progress over a long period of time. Some common non-communicable diseases include cardiovascular diseases (stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure...), diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and mental disorders.

It is estimated that in 2019, Vietnam recorded 727,000 deaths, of which 81% were caused by non-communicable diseases. Nearly half of deaths from this group of diseases occurred before the age of 70. Dr. Diem said that about 22 million Vietnamese suffer from non-communicable diseases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), among 10 Southeast Asian countries, Vietnamese men's life expectancy ranks 5th and Vietnamese women's life expectancy ranks 2nd. On average, Vietnamese have a life expectancy of 73.7, but they live with a chronic illness for about 10 years of their lifetime. 

Experts said that one of the causes is unreasonable nutrition, besides other factors such as living environment, people's awareness, lack of medical staff, and low budget for preventive medicine.

Globally, non-communicable diseases are also a health burden for low- or middle-income countries.

Linh Anh