HCM CITY — People's awareness of respiratory health remains low and most do not take nasal hygiene seriously, medical experts said at a press meeting held in HCM City yesterday to unveil a programme titled Respiratory Health Care Month.
The programme will be organised by the HCM City Respiratory Society, Community Health Care Centre, and Merap Group from November 7 to December 7.
It will provide check-ups and counselling for respiratory health at a camp held at Le Van Tam Park in District 1 and wholesale markets around the city on November 7 and for workers at industrial and export processing zones in the city as well as Ha Noi.
Volunteers will hand out brochures on respiratory health care in apartments and office buildings.
Dr Nguyen Huu Dung of the HCM City University Medical Centre's Ear-Nose-Throat Ward said the programme would help improve awareness of nasal hygiene and prevent respiratory tract infections like allergic rhinitis.
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Le Thi Tuyet Lan, chairwoman of the HCM City Respiratory Society, said "nasal hygiene and protection is very important to avoid respiratory diseases, especially allergic rhinitis."
The incidence of allergic rhinitis has risen in Viet Nam, especially in large cities, in recent years because of increasing environmental pollution due to urbanisation and industrialisation, she said.
"In rural areas, women are most at risk due to dust from stoves," she said.
"Many people with the condition do not care to get themselves treated because they do not realise it could lead to asthma," she said.
The HCM City University Medical Centre's studies show that a third of them will get asthma without timely treatment.
"Eighty per cent of asthma patients, in turn, get allergic rhinitis," she added. — VNS
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