Vietnam will become the first country that treats multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) cases with new medicines by the end of this year, a local health expert has said.

>> Vietnam ranks 12th among countries suffering most from TB This is part of the country’s effort to lower the TB level to less than 20 patients for every 100,000 inhabitants by 2030, according to Dr. Nguyen Duc Chinh, from the management board of the National TB Program.  Two new types of medicine have been prepared and approved by local health officials, Dr. Chinh said.  Currently, hospitals across the country are offering six-month treatment therapies to TB patients, which are expected to be shortened to 3 or 4 months in the near future, the health expert said. More potent TB vaccines will be on offer by 2018, he added. Vietnam plans to bring the numbers of TB sufferers and deaths down to 187 and 18, respectively, per 100,000 by late 2015, as shown in the national TB prevention strategy by 2020 recently approved by the Prime Minister.    The respective figures are forecast to decrease to 131 and 10, with the rate of multidrug-resistant TB patients being kept at less than 5 percent by 2020. The country is expected to lower TB levels to below 20 patients for every 100,000 inhabitants by 2030. Vietnam will supply more medical check-ups and treatment, especially to remote and mountainous areas, in order to meet these targets, Dr. Chinh said. Competent agencies are also required to review and amend policies on combating TB, and raise public awareness of TB prevention and control. Further training courses for health workers both at home and abroad will be held while the enforcement of laws on TB prevention will be strengthened. Currently, with 18,000 people dying of TB per year, Vietnam ranks 12th out of the 22 highest-burden countries identified by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has said. TB is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It most commonly affects the lungs and the disease is transmitted from person to person via bacteria from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease, according to WHO.