Vietnam Youth Health Program officially launched phase 2 (2023-2025)

The second phase of the Vietnam Youth Health Program (YHP Vietnam) was officially launched by the Ministry of Education and Training , AstraZeneca and Plan International Vietnam.

This is a global community investment initiative of AstraZeneca, focusing on adolescents with interventions to prevent common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease. The project will be implemented from June 2023 to December 2025.

Chương trình Sức khỏe thanh thiếu niên Việt Nam chính thức khởi động giai đoạn 2 (2023-2025)

The launching event of the Vietnam Youth Health Program Phase 2 was held on September 29. (Source: Plan International Vietnam)

The launching event was attended by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh De, Director of the Department of Physical Education - Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Nitin Kapoor, Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam, Ms. Quach Thuc Anh, Director of Finance and Administration - Plan International Vietnam as well as representatives of relevant agencies and high schools and universities that will participate in the program in the coming time.

Here, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thanh De, Director of the Department of Physical Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the World Health Organization has identified behaviors and lifestyles formed from school and university age related to the increase of non-communicable diseases.

In order to strengthen the prevention of non-communicable diseases and concretize the contents of the School Health Program for the period 2021-2025, the Ministry of Education and Training coordinated with Plan International Vietnam to implement the Vietnam Youth Health Project for the period 2023-2025, funded by AstraZeneca Group with non-refundable aid.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh De also expressed his respect and appreciation for international partners such as AstraZeneca and Plan International Vietnam who sponsored and accompanied the Project.

Mr. Nitin Kapoor, Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam, shared: “As a world-leading biopharmaceutical group with a long-term commitment to sustainable development, we believe that investing in the health of young people today is investing in the sustainable future of the whole society.

We are proud of the concrete and positive impacts of the Youth Health program in phase one, and are excited to continue working with partners to carry out the upcoming phase two.”

Ms. Quach Thuc Anh, Director of Finance and Administration of Plan International Vietnam, also said: “We need to pay attention to the growth and development of young people at this stage.

Every decision we make, every habit we form, and every path we choose can have lasting consequences and impacts that span generations.

Evidence shows that unhealthy behaviours that cause non-communicable diseases, including unhealthy nutrition, smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke, physical inactivity and alcohol use, often develop during adolescence.

In fact, more than half of deaths related to non-communicable diseases are linked to behaviors and habits formed or reinforced during adolescence.

To strengthen responses to non-communicable diseases worldwide, we need to pay more attention and invest in the early years of life and especially in adolescence.”

The Youth Health Program for the period 2023-2025 is a three-year program that aims to contribute to improving the health and quality of life of Vietnamese youth, especially the 10-24 age group in Cau Giay, Long Bien, Dong Anh and Hai Ba Trung districts, Hanoi city.

The specific objective of this programme is to ensure that young people in Hanoi are raised aware of risk behaviours and measures to prevent non-communicable diseases so that they are empowered to make decisions about their health, in the context of improved health services, health systems and an enabling policy environment.

Globally, since its inception in 2010, Youth Health has reached more than 10 million young people in over 40 countries on five continents.

In May 2019, the Youth Health programme earned AstraZeneca the Business of the Year award for Humanitarian Business, which recognises UK businesses that make an outstanding contribution to the community.

After three years of implementation of phase 1, despite facing many challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Youth Health program in Vietnam has completed all key objectives and had significant impacts on target groups.

Some encouraging results include: 81% of adolescents participating in the Program showed increased awareness of risk factors for non-communicable diseases, 79% increased awareness of 3 or more non-communicable diseases, and the rate of adolescents with positive behaviors regarding healthy nutrition increased by 63%.

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