When Khoi asked if I would be interested in attending the ASEAN College of Cardiology, I couldn’t resist because it would give an opportunity to see how things had changed since I first went to Viet Nam. Since my wife had other plans, I convinced one of my sons to join me for the trip.
We arrived in Hanoi in the late evening Thursday (10/16) after 20 hours in the air. Friday morning, I woke for an early morning run. While the sun was just coming up, many Vietnamese were out doing morning exercises including Yoga, Tai Chi, and running.
Later that morning, we went walking in the Old Quarter. While we did some shopping, seeing the wide variety of people highlighted the Vietnamese people generally have different risk factors. There are very few, if any, individuals that are overweight or obese, but tobacco use is quite prevalent.
Friday evening, we had the opportunity to see a performance of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra at the Hanoi Opera House. Since the Opera House is only open during performances, this was not possible during my prior trips.
Saturday, I participated in a symposium on prevention which lasted all day. I lectured on the effects of tobacco on cardiovascular disease and this stimulated a number of questions from both attending physicians and other meeting faculty. Other lectures I attended covered important risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.
The increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Asia is very alarming from a public health perspective because there is so little funding to address a serious problem that affects so many people. As a result, the physicians and scientists in the region show great interest in learning how to combat these issues.
