Simply life hong kong

for her contribution to helping thousands of people with cardiovascular diseases over many years.

Associate Professor Truong Thanh Huong speak with a foreign colleague at work. — Photo suckhoedoisong.vn

Huong is one of the country’s leading medical experts, with many scientific works published.

Huong has conducted many studies related to congenital and genetic cardiovascular diseases, genetic pharmacology in individualising treatment of cardiovascular disease and development of new technologies in echocardiography. She has also chaired 19 scientific studies and published 75 scientific articles in domestic and international journals so far.

Huong is also the editor of 20 medical textbooks and documents.

Her two most outstanding scientific studies consist of the project “Building genetic mutation map of familial hypercholesterolaemia and proposing a disease management model in Vietnam” and the project “Surveying some common polymorphisms of CYP2C19 gene related to Clopidogrel medicine’s response in people with coronary artery disease in Vietnam”.

According to medical experts, the first project is a process of screening, diagnosis, genetic testing, genetic counselling and setting up a managing model of familial hypercholesterolaemia in Vietnam. The project’s results have been transferred to medical facilities to serve healthcare.

Associate Professor Pham Manh Hung, president of Vietnam National Heart Institute, said familial hypercholesterolaemia was a hereditary disease, affecting generations of a family and causing dangerous complications such as heart attacks and strokes in young people.

Worryingly, there were nearly 500,000 patients in the country contracting the disease. In the past, very few patients were detected and treated early, he said.

Hung said they received many children with familial hypercholesterolaemia with dangerous complications. The study by Huong had assisted medical experts to detect the disease, quickly intervene and screen family members that had yet to suffer complications for early treatment.

The other project has already been transferred to producers to make a chip that could quickly diagnose the polymorphism of the CYP2C19 gene, he said.

It had helped hundreds of thousands of patients with coronary artery disease minimise complications and the risk of death as well as save annual medical expenses for the country, he said.

He also said that statistics showed that cardiovascular diseases were believed to cause the highest number of deaths, leading to the death of 18.6 million people worldwide; about four times higher than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.

Hung said data revealed that over 32 per cent of patients died of cardiovascular diseases in Vietnam.

Therefore, cardiovascular-disease studies by Huong were very meaningful, contributing to improving treatment efficiency and reducing risks of death for patients with cardiovascular diseases, he said.

Also thanks to Huong’s studies, patients and their families had the opportunity to access optimal diagnosis and treatment, limiting the occurrence of cardiovascular complications, especially in adolescents, thereby helping to protect people’s health, he said.

Doctor, teacher

Huong’s father and mother worked for the military. When she was a child, she went with her father and saw many soldiers with injuries treated in poor conditions.

“The image stuck with me, inspiring my dream to become a doctor in the future,” she said.

She studied hard and became one of the first two cardiologists to graduate from Hanoi Medical University with excellent results. After graduation in 1987, she started to work as a lecturer at the university and a doctor at the Vietnam National Heart Institute.

She was soon sent to Paris, France, to study Clinical Cardiology and Doppler echocardiography at the University of Paris and the Saint-Antoine Hospital and learn about congenital heart disease at the Robert Debré Hospital.

She returned to Vietnam in 1997 and continued working at the institute and the university. Huong was given the Vietnam’s Scientific and Technological Innovation Award in 2012 for her tireless efforts in scientific research.

As a senior lecturer at the university, she always renews her teaching methods. She applied modern teaching methods such as the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX) for medical students, contributing to improve the quality of teaching and learning at the university.

She also actively participated in training high-quality human resources for the national health sector. She has directly trained more than 40 Ph.D, MBA and resident doctors and instructed and transferred advanced technologies to hundreds of doctors and medical staff at medical facilities across the country.

Huong works as a bridge for many young doctors and scientists to have the opportunity to access international scientific environments to study and improve their capacity, contributing to raising the quality of scientific research of Vietnam.

She was given the title of “Excellent Teacher” in 2014.

Kim Ngoc Thanh, a lecturer at the university and one of Huong’s students, said: “Huong is an honourable teacher for many generations of students.

“Not only enthusiastic about the profession and ready to teach all she knows to the next generation, she also helps young doctors have the opportunity to participate in major medical forums around the world.

“She gives us all her knowledge and experiences and always says she hopes we will teach all we know to the next generations as well,” he said.

Huong said: “Knowledge must be spread to really have great value and power.”

Hung, president of Vietnam National Heart Institute, said Huong completely deserved Vietnam’s 2020 Kovalevskaya Award. The award is the driving force and a great encouragement for female scientists, who have devoted their whole life to contributing to society.  VNS

Mattias Larsson. Photo courtesy of Family Medical Practice

by Mattias Larsson*

Vaccines are one of the pillars in modern medicine that has contributed to decreasing child mortality from about 20 per cent of live born children down to in Việt Nam 1.5 per cent and in most western countries 3-5 per 1,000 live born children.

Most children in Việt Nam, about 90-95 per cent, are reported to have received their vaccinations according to the general vaccination programme. But still, some parents are concerned about the vaccine’s safety and side effects. Are their concerns justified?

Mild side effects such as fever or redness and soreness or pain at the injection site are common and are just a sign that the body is responding properly. More serious side effects can be allergic reactions or febrile seizures that affect one in ten thousand. But these side effects are transient or can be treated.

The measles epidemic in Việt Nam in 2014 had more than 15,033 confirmed cases and 146 fatalities among young unvaccinated children.

The first MPR vaccine is given at 12 months of age. During the first year of life, the child has a certain protection from the mother, provided that the mother has adequate protection. Measles is caused by a virus and the disease is highly contagious, there is a risk for permanent disabilities and death.

The risk of complications is great, every fifth patient gets one or more complications. About one in a thousand risks encephalitis which can cause permanent damage, such as lifelong paralysis and in the worst case death.

To be protected against measles, you must have either had the disease or been vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine. In 1982, the MPR vaccine was introduced, which began to be given in two doses and which provides adequate protection.

However, many parents are still afraid that the MPR vaccine, against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), can cause autism. It is known today that there is no connection.

Concerns began to spread in the late 1990s when the medical journal Lancet published results reporting that a link had been found between the measles vaccine and autism. However, other researchers, who have done similar studies, could not find any such connection and in 2010 the Lancet officially withdrew the publication of the article.

Several large studies in different countries have compared the prevalence of autism and a possible link to the MPR vaccine, but none of these have found any connection. The World Health Organization WHO has also investigated the issue and come to the same conclusion.

A common argument against vaccines is that it is considered good for children to undergo the various childhood diseases, to train the immune system. It is certainly good that the immune system is allowed to train. Our immune system is exposed to as much else as it can train on, without having to be exposed to childhood diseases, as most parents to small children experience with the frequent colds.

It is desirable that as many as possible get vaccinated for other reasons as well. There are people who for various reasons can’t get vaccinated. It may be due to severe immunodeficiency disease, people who have a weakened immune system due to cancer treatment or transplant recipients who always have to take immunosuppressive medications. Or those who have a certain hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccine.

If many in the surrounding community are vaccinated, these people are protected by herd immunity. There is simply no infection in circulation that can infect them. But the protection only applies as long as these individuals stay in areas with good vaccination coverage.

New vaccines that are developed must first undergo the same clinical trial phases as all other drugs, and after they have entered the market, a continuous side effect follow-up is performed by, among others, the Medical Products Agency. When the new COVID-19 vaccines are beginning to be distributed to millions and even billions of people some rare side effects might get reported. Also here it is important to compare with the risk of the disease.

You should definitely not neglect side effects, but vaccines that are part of the Vietnamese vaccination programme are safe. At this time, these vaccines have been distributed in many millions of doses and we have had very few reported serious side effects. Family Medical Practice

* Mattias Larsson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Family Medical Practice Hanoi, Global Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Honorary Professor, Hanoi Medical University

Family Medical Practice was the first foreign-owned primary healthcare provider in Việt Nam, and has consistently remained at the forefront of international-standard medicine since 1995. It offers extensive healthcare and emergency medical services nationwide to Vietnamese, expatriate and corporate customers.

For more advice on any medical topics, visit https://www.vietnammedicalpractice.com; or visit our clinics:

Family Medical Practice Hanoi on 298 I Kim Mã Street, Ba Đình District or call (024) 3843 0748. Email: [email protected] .

FMP’s downtown HCM City location is at Diamond Plaza, 34 Lê Duẩn Street, District 1; Other facilities are at: 95 Thảo Điền Street, District 2. Tel: (028) 38227848. E: [email protected] .

FMP Danang is located at 96-98 Nguyễn Văn Linh Street, Hải Châu District, Đà Nẵng. Tel: (0236) 3582 699. E: [email protected] .

A music performance was held on Saturday to celebrate the International Women’s Day. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam expects to see women holding key leadership positions in 60 per cent of state management agencies and local administrations at all levels by 2025 and 75 per cent by 2030.

The target was set in the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the 2021-30 period recently adopted by the government.

The strategy also defined a number of new goals for the country to further make progress in gender equality in various areas and fulfil its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The number of paid women employees in Việt Nam will increase to 50 per cent by 2025 and around 60 per cent by 2030, while the percentage of women working in the agriculture sector among all employed women will decline to below 30 per cent by 2025 and less than 25 per cent by 2030.

The rate of female directors or owners of businesses is expected to reach at least 27 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.

The country also aims to reduce the average time women spend doing unpaid housework by 1.7 times by 2025 and 1.4 times by 2030 compared to that of men.

By 2025, 80 per cent of women suffering from domestic and gender-based violence will be given access to at least one of basic support services, and the figure is expected to reach 90 per cent by 2030.

The sex ratio at birth will be 111 boys per 100 girls by 2025 and 109 boys per 100 girls by 2030. The maternal mortality rate will drop to 42 per 100,000 live births by 2025 and below 42 per 100,000 live births by 2030.

Gender and gender equality are planned to be integrated into curriculums at schools and pedagogical universities from 2025.

The country will hold a month-long campaign for the promotion of gender equality and gender-based violence prevention and response from November 15 to December 15 every year.

Campaign for “women’s smile” launched

The Vietnam Women’s Union, the Institute for Development & Community Health (LIGHT), and the UN Women in Việt Nam jointly organised a virtual programme to celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8) and launch the campaign “For Women’s Smile” in Hà Nội, central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, and HCM City on Saturday.

The campaign aims to honour unyielding efforts of Vietnamese women to overcome difficulties and challenges, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, to contribute to the nation’s development and prosperity.

With the companionship of scientists, artists and social activists, it hopes to encourage the aspirations to rise up, overcome difficulties, increase the desire to learn and the creativity of women.

The campaign also creates a space for women to expand the use of information technology, exchange information towards women’s happiness and promote gender equality.

Speaking at the event, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women’s Union Hà Thị Nga said the International Women’s Day this year was marked in a special context when the COVID-19 pandemic still developed complicatedly, affecting the life of billions of people around the world. However, women as well as Vietnamese people have proved their solidarity, kindness and ability to adapt and willingness to cope with difficulties to “turn challenges into opportunities” in the fight against COVID-19.

Each member of the women’s union at all levels have promptly adapted to the new normal by increasing the application of information technology in managing and implementing the union’s activities, she said.

Application of information technology would not only help women not lag behind in terms of technology but also help to raise their spiritual and physical health, bringing in happiness, joyfulness and smile for themselves, she said.

“When we have confident, healthy and happy women, we will have more happy families. That is also the objective of this year’s campaign for women’s smile,” she said. — VNS

Songs and music pieces by late musician-author Bắc Sơn, one of the region’s leading artists in music, theatre and movies in the 1980s and 90s, can be seen on a YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of the producer

LONG AN — Songs and music pieces by late musician and author Bắc Sơn, one of the region’s leading artists in music, theatre and movies in the 1980s and 90s, can be seen on a YouTube channel.

The channel, Tình Ca Bắc Sơn – Tập Đoàn An Nông (Bắc Sơn’s love songs – An Nông Group), includes many works portraying southern people and their culture by artist Bắc Sơn.

Many documents and articles on the artist’s life and career are also featured.

On the channel, music lovers can search Bắc Sơn’s works arranged by topics by using key words.

“Through YouTube, we hope fans, singers, composers and music producers can work together to introduce Vietnamese music and musician-author Bắc Sơn in particular,” said theatre actress-singer Bích Thuỷ, one of the channel’s producers.

Theatre actress-singer Bích Thuỷ performs songs featuring southern people and their culture written by his father, late musician-author Bắc Sơn. His art is featured on YouTube via the channel, Tình Ca Bắc Sơn-Tập Đoàn An Nông (Bắc Sơn’s love songs-An Nông Group). Photo courtesy of the producer

Bích Thuỷ, also Bắc Sơn’s daughter, and her staff have invited dozens of singers and theatre actors to join their filming.

She and her family have encouraged Bắc Sơn’s fans at home and abroad to send information and materials to promote the late composer’s music on YouTube.

Musician-author Bắc Sơn (whose real name Trương Văn Khuê) was born in 1931 in Đồng Nai Province.

He began his writing career in 1952 when he was a teacher. In 1977, he became familiar with folk tunes that feature his love for the south.

He later lived in HCM City and worked as a musican, theatre actor and scriptwriter.

Bắc Sơn wrote more than 500 songs, most of them in praise of southern people and their culture. His songs have been performed by pop stars such as Cẩm Vân and Cẩm Ly.

He wrote 180 scripts for TV, theatre and movies and also performed in 60 films and TV series.

He died in 2005.

“Bắc Sơn’s art features the beauty of southern culture,” said singer-theatre actress Thanh Hằng, who has 30 years of experience in the industry.

The Long An Province Radio & Television has worked with its partner, the An Nông Group, to produce 100 two-act plays about Vietnamese culture and lifestyle written by Bắc Sơn.

Dozens of theatre performers in drama, cải lương (reformed opera) and tuồng (classical drama) wil be featured.

The first two plays, Đêm Dài Như Biển (Long Night as the Sea) and Con Dế Mèn (A Cricket), starring veteran drama actresses such as Bích Thuỷ, were filmed and will air in May. These works highlight the lifestyle and characters of farmers living in Mekong Delta provinces.

The next plays will attract cải lương stars such as People’s Artist Bạch Tuyết and People’s Artist Ngọc Giàu. Young talents will also be included. — VNS

Việt Nam needs to ensure consistency in legal documents on science and technology development to tap its potentials. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuấn

With great potential amid the ever-growing importance of science and technology, Việt Nam has promoted investment in this field by offering tax incentives and resources. Former Minister of Science and Technology Nguyễn Quân talks to Khoa học và Phát triển (Science and Development) online newspaper about the limitations in legal documents that regulate science-technology investment in Việt Nam and recommendations for the country to unlock its potential in this field.

Early this year, the Finance Ministry issued Circular 03/2021/TT-BTC on Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption and reduction policies for science-technology enterprises. What is new in this circular?

Similar tax incentives on science-technology companies were stipulated in two decrees in 2007 and 2010 respectively and another circular. This new document is expected to make tax procedures easier for science-technology businesses.

However, there are some limitations in Circular 03. For example, previous legal documents regulated that science-technology businesses are entitled to the same tax incentives applied for high technology (hi-tech) companies or those investing in hi-tech parks. This means that they enjoy tax rate of 10 per cent for 15 years or during the life span of the project.

However, Circular 03 doesn’t specify CIT rates to which science-technology companies are entitled, so there is a chance that they may be entitled to CIT exemption and reduction for a total of just 13 years.

This will make investing in science and technology less attractive and put science-technology companies at a disadvantage compared to hi-tech companies, companies investing in hi-tech zones or companies that have hi-tech projects.

What is more, Circular 03 is about preferential tax policies while previous documents regulated other issues like human resources, transfer of assets and sharing of profits. Making these policies invalid will make it hard for those who want to establish or shift to a science-technology company.

In addition, the procedures to apply for tax exemption and reduction are still complicated in many places so many businesses would rather use normal tax rates than apply for tax incentives.

A lack of consistency among legal documents may also make it hard to be applied in reality.

Could you elaborate more on this inconsistency?

Take the Law on Science and Technology and Law on Personal Income Tax as examples. The law on science and technology stipulates that income from science-technology research projects will be exempt from personal income tax, however, there is no such incentive in the Law on Personal Income Tax.

According to the Law on Science and Technology, researchers who have special contributions like winning the Hồ Chí Minh award or international awards on science technology are offered pay rises but this incentive is not mentioned in the Law on Public Employees.

Similarly, State funding for science-technology research or tasks is mentioned in the Law on Science Technology but the Law on State Budget just has general requirements that all tasks using State budget must follow a same procedure: make a cost estimate, have approval at the ministerial or provincial level, among others, which makes it take nearly a year before the funding arrives. This also applies to urgent tasks like developing COVID-19 vaccines or producing ventilators unless the Government decides otherwise.

In science and technology, funding should be made available promptly when researchers have research ideas or there are demands from the market. We still maintain an old practice that is found nowhere else in the world.

We must have a consistency in legal documents and change our mindset, otherwise research activities are still trapped in these limitations.

Some people think that there is inconsistency in legal documents because we still don’t seem willing to take risks in scientific research. What do you think about this?

Science technology research can fail. The chance of failure may be higher than success. Meanwhile, the Law on State Budget doesn’t mention venture capital, which means that investment is reserved for successful projects only.

The State budget for scientific research, like corporate investment, should include venture capital. There is a regulation in the Law on High Technologies passed in 2008 that a national hi-tech venture investment fund will be piloted and then can be transferred to the private sector or divested, but so far it has not been implemented.

As this venture fund initiative is yet to be carried out, we don’t know about its operation mechanism and impacts of venture capital to issue relevant legal documents on venture capital.

Nowadays the biggest problem of start-ups is that there is no legal regulation on venture capital. The Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in 2017 did mention creative start-up investment funds and create a legal framework for this but there have been no guidance circulars on the procedures needed and operation mechanism.

Recently you have supported Hanoi University of Science and Technology in establishing a start-up fund. Can you elaborate on how the fund works?

Hanoi University of Science and Technology has just built its first start-up investment fund for their students and alumni. It’s extremely hard. Though the university has financial capacity and is very eager to invest, it seems impossible as auditors do not accept it as eligible expenses. So the only way is to mobilise personal capital, but if personal capital is utilised then the institution will not be able to benefit from the profit of the fund. Experience from other countries like the United States, Japan, South Korea and Israel showed that venture capital would bring high profit. However, our policies do not allow using State budget for venture capital, which discourages people to do such things.

Looking into these problems, we can see that there are still many limitations in science-technology development in our country. This field hasn’t fully tapped the potentials and our expectations.

Taking the pandemic for example, Việt Nam was among countries that declared successful research for the COVID-19 vaccine very early. But the progress slowed when it came to clinical trials because the trials rely heavily on government investment. Private businesses cannot afford it and do not have sufficient capacity. If there is no timely investment, whether from government or private sector, then the product cannot be licensed and reach the market. This also means our chances of preventing the pandemic and to compete are gone. If we are late and the whole world is vaccinated before we release our vaccines, then we can’t sell our products and this leads to a huge waste of resources.

In the context of development and integration, like it or not, international products are pouring into Việt Nam. FDI businesses also bring in technologies, therefore we must handle these limitations to push the potentials of Việt Nam’s science and technology as well as change our mindset on investment for science and technology so we can catch up with the world. — VNS

TOKYO — More than 110,000 Olympic volunteers had their dream summer all mapped out for 2020. But now, with the Games postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and for many still in doubt, they are left waiting in limbo, lives on hold.

Hiromi Yamamura and others had hoped to make friends from around the globe in an experience of a lifetime.

Instead, the unsung backbone of any Olympics – its corps of volunteers – has had to recalibrate lives, put vacations or returns to home countries on hold and seek out part-time jobs in Japan so they are still free to volunteer.

Volunteers acknowledged their uncertainty was small in the face of the pandemic’s brutal global cost, but it’s nonetheless taking a toll.

Even as organisers swear the Games will go ahead as rescheduled this summer, some are nervous and pondering changes of plan.

“I’m actually wavering about taking part now,” said Yamamura, 40, who lives in southwestern Japan, far from Tokyo.

“Getting to Tokyo is expensive, and thanks to the pandemic, my finances are unstable. But the biggest reason is, it’s really hard to maintain motivation in this unclear situation.”

Roughly 80,000 people were recruited by Tokyo 2020 organisers, with another 30,000 by the Tokyo government and more by local administrations, to take care of everything from translating and guiding people to driving visitors around and venue management.

A rich part of the Olympic tradition, they range from university students to retirees and come from all around the world.

Some 1,000 of the 2020 organiser’s volunteers have quit, while the Tokyo side has seen fewer than 200 leave – neither of which, officials say, will have any impact on hosting the Games.

Several hundred left due to sexist remarks by the president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, but after he quit some wanted to return.

‘Mixed signals’

Organisers insist all systems are go, but signals are mixed, volunteers interviewed by Reuters say.

Overseas volunteers have been emailed detailed schedules by organisers, but then told to verify whether they can enter Japan at all amid strict pandemic immigration rules.

Games organisers said volunteers know when they apply to take part that they need to tackle logistics themselves, but hints are available on the Tokyo 2020 website.

They say they can’t yet confirm how many will be coming from overseas.

Email communications from Olympics organisers are also sharply down compared with this time last year, volunteers say.

Organisers say they have given volunteers regular updates since last year’s postponement, and that email communication will increase as the Games draw closer.

Last year’s Games were postponed in late March, just before the torch relay was due to start – a precedent that means many see the scheduled torch relay start this year, on March 25, as a key moment.

“I had a whole life planned … and then after the Olympics I’d finally go home, and I’d start a new life,” said a Canadian English teacher in southwestern Japan, 36, declining to be named citing sensitivities around his work situation.

“I’m still here and in limbo, not knowing exactly what to do,” the teacher said.

“I put all of my eggs in a basket that seeped right through my fingers.”

By this time last year he was re-arranging work and booking travel to Tokyo – concerns magnified for overseas volunteers that Claire Dawn-Marie Gittens, 39 and a Rio 2016 Games volunteer returning for the 2020 Games, understands.

“When I booked for Rio, ticket prices changed by the day,” said Gittens, a long-term Japan resident from Barbados.

“Then making sure you can find somewhere to stay … People need to get to work on this.”

Asked if the Olympics could downscale volunteer numbers, organisers said they’ll monitor conditions to hold a safe and secure Games.

If the Olympics do take place, they may be muted compared with the fun many volunteers anticipated.

“We’re told hospitality has to change, so you aren’t in direct contact much (with spectators),” said Sawako Anada, a 47-year-old physical therapist in Kawagoe, a city near Tokyo set to host golf.

“You hold up a big card that can be seen from a distance and gesture, convey your welcome physically like that … We’re being told to ‘Be friendly from afar’.”