According to statistics, the average life expectancy of HCM City residents in 2024 is 76.6 years, higher than the national average (74.7 years) and an increase of over 10 years compared to 45 years ago. Similarly, the average height of HCM City residents has also significantly improved over the past four decades.
Over the 50 years since the Liberation of Southern Vietnam, HCM City’s healthcare sector has overcome numerous challenges and implemented innovative solutions to enhance the city’s healthcare capabilities.
Officials at the HCM City Department of Health noted that throughout its 50 years of development, strengthening disease prevention and control, bolstering primary healthcare, and developing community health services have been prioritized. These are the cornerstones of protecting, caring for, and improving public health. Effective execution of these tasks will provide HCM City with the resources and time to implement specialized techniques and aim to become a leading healthcare hub in Southeast Asia.
In the aftermath of April 30, 1975, HCM City, along with the nation, entered a period of reconstruction, facing the aftermath of prolonged warfare. Medical supplies, equipment, and medicine reserves were dwindling.
Driven by the principles of accessible healthcare for the people and disease prevention being paramount, the healthcare sector established the city’s sanitation and disease prevention station and district/commune sanitation teams, alongside ward/village health stations. These were the core forces in implementing the “5 Elimination” campaign and establishing “3 Sanitation Projects”, followed by 10 points in the initial healthcare program at health stations. This led to a reduction and control of diseases such as malaria, cholera, plague, typhoid, and dengue fever, as well as a decrease in malnutrition and blindness rates.
HCM City also actively utilized traditional medicine to address the shortage of modern medicines. In the wake of liberation, HCM City’s healthcare sector, true to its commitment as the city named after President Ho Chi Minh, provided free medical examinations and medicine at health stations in 1975.
Six years after liberation (1981), the national Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) was piloted by the Ministry of Health, and five years later, it was implemented nationwide. This, coupled with HCM City’s innovative approaches, helped control infectious diseases in the region.
From 2000 to 2023, HCM City, along with the nation, eradicated polio, eliminated neonatal tetanus, malaria, and leprosy. Infectious diseases preventable by vaccines, such as pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and measles, have also seen significant declines.
Today, after almost 40 years of implementation, the full immunization rate for children under one year old in HCM City consistently exceeds 95%.
In 1990, HCM City detected the first HIV case in the country. For the past 35 years, it has been the hardest-hit area for HIV/AIDS, with over 52,600 HIV-infected cases under management, and 100% of wards, communes, and towns in districts and counties reporting cases (as of September 2024). However, the situation has been effectively managed through strong policies and international support.
The concerted efforts of the entire political system, and technical and financial support from international organizations, have gradually brought the HIV/AIDS situation under control in HCM City. The number of new HIV infections, AIDS cases, and deaths related to this condition have continuously decreased each year.
HCM City has implemented various effective intervention models based on WHO recommendations across the entire region, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and antiviral treatment on the day of HIV infection detection.
HCM City aims to achieve the “95 targets” by 2025, including: 95% of HIV-infected individuals knowing their status (currently 93.5%); 95% of diagnosed HIV-infected individuals receiving ARV treatment (currently nearly 93%); 95% of ARV-treated individuals having controlled viral loads to maintain good health and reduce the risk of HIV transmission to others (currently 98%). The city also aspires to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Lessons learned from decades of disease control, particularly from the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to the HCM City People’s Committee issuing a plan to strengthen the city’s Center for Disease Control (HCDC). This plan involves strengthening the city-wide disease surveillance system, connecting hospitals and health stations to improve proactive surveillance, forecasting, early detection, and control of diseases.
Furthermore, HCM City is strengthening international collaborations to enhance disease surveillance and early warning capabilities, such as partnering with the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide technical assistance and knowledge transfer to the HCDC.
The swift and effective response to the measles outbreak in 2024 is a clear demonstration of the success of these efforts. Proactive disease reporting and plans have resulted in a decrease in reported cases across age groups. HCM City aims to end the measles epidemic in 2025.
Beyond disease prevention and control, HCM City has been strengthening primary healthcare systems and community health services to comprehensively protect, care for, and improve public health. Examples include:
- Investing in infrastructure for health stations to ensure operations based on the family medicine principle
- Increasing primary healthcare personnel through Resolution 01/2022/NQ-HĐND dated April 7, 2022, of the HCM City People’s Council, and the plan for specific policies to develop the network of community health collaborators approved by the HCM City People’s Committee
- Improving professional support for health stations through remote consultations (telemedicine) with upper-level hospitals, and implementing digital X-ray technology integrated with AI at Thạnh An Island Health Station in Cần Giờ District
- Moving from individual medicine procurement to pooled procurement for primary healthcare facilities to ensure sufficient medicine supply for health stations, and implementing essential interventions for non-communicable diseases in primary healthcare (WHO-PEN program) with technical support from WHO
Numerous health programs have been implemented to comprehensively care for the health of the citizens, including programs for maternal and child health, reproductive health, school health, senior citizen health checks, and pilot programs for oral health care for students.
HCM City has successfully implemented interventions to improve population quality from the early stages of life since 2008, through pre-marital counseling, health checks, and pre-natal/neonatal screenings (with an annual participation rate exceeding 80%). This has helped ensure normal development for newborns and prevented severe consequences from birth defects. It has reduced the number of disabled and intellectually impaired individuals in the community, contributing to improved population quality.
From 2024, a unified senior citizen health check program will be implemented across the city to enable early detection, control of chronic diseases, and cost savings in treatment.
The health sector is also implementing mental health programs, “depression first aid” for both citizens and healthcare personnel, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, the HCM City People’s Committee approved the “Developing Community Health Services to Protect, Care for, and Improve the Health of Citizens in 2021-2030” plan. This plan serves as a pivotal moment for reevaluating past public health activities and developing new, more comprehensive solutions.
“Over the past 50 years, the health sector has made significant contributions to improving the quality of life of HCM City citizens, enhancing their health, stature, longevity, and overall well-being,” affirmed Mr. Tăng Chí Thượng, Director of the HCM City Department of Health.
While HCM City’s health sector has achieved remarkable results, it still faces new challenges, including the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases, the emergence of new infectious diseases, population aging, climate change, urbanization, industrialization, globalization, and unhealthy lifestyles.
Mr. Tăng Chí Thượng noted that HCM City also faces challenges in developing intelligent healthcare. These include the need to upgrade technological infrastructure to ensure system stability and data security; and the need for in-depth training for healthcare personnel to effectively utilize new technologies.
Furthermore, policies and mechanisms for collaboration among different departments need improvement to accelerate the digital transformation of the healthcare sector.
“Developing intelligent healthcare is not only a trend but also a crucial requirement for enhancing the quality of public healthcare. The digital transformation journey in healthcare will continue to be strengthened, leading to a more advanced, transparent, and effective healthcare system,” Mr. Thượng affirmed.
In 2025, the HCM City Department of Health will continue to advise the People’s Committee on a comprehensive health care plan for city residents, and explore solutions to increase the total fertility rate in the 2025-2030 period. The goal is to ensure that all citizens in the city have access to comprehensive physical and mental healthcare, which will lay a stable foundation for improving population quality and human resources for HCM City’s future development.
