Vietnam is in the world's top 30 countries and regions with high TB rates, ranking the 16th in the number of TB patients and the 13th in that of drug-resistant TB patients, daily newspaper Vietnam News quoted Nguyen Viet Nhung, director of the country's National Lung Hospital, as saying.

"Up to 70 percent of Vietnamese people with TB are at working age. Therefore, TB is really a problem affecting the economy of each family in particular and the country in general," Nhung said.

He said the rate of TB infection in Vietnam has fallen in recent years, mainly because the country has mastered the techniques of TB detection, diagnosis and treatment with good results.

Vietnam has set a goal of eradicating TB by 2030.