Lifestyle Medicine and Obesity in Viet Nam: Comprehensive Care in the Era of GLP-1 Medicines

Lifestyle Medicine and Obesity in Viet Nam: Comprehensive Care in the Era of GLP-1 Medicines

Last reviewed: September 2026

Obesity care is changing rapidly. For many years, people living with obesity were often told to eat less, exercise more and try harder. When weight returned after an initial loss, the explanation was frequently framed as poor motivation or lack of discipline. At the other extreme, treatment sometimes focused heavily on the number on the scale while paying too little attention to nutrition quality, physical function, sleep, mental health, social circumstances and long-term health.

The emergence of highly effective glucagon-like peptide-1-based therapies has changed what is possible. Some of these medicines can produce substantial weight reduction and improve important metabolic and clinical outcomes. In December 2025, the World Health Organization issued its first guideline on their use in obesity and placed them within a model of comprehensive, lifelong care for a chronic, relapsing disease. The recommendations do not position medication as a replacement for healthy eating, physical activity or professional support.

For Lifestyle Medicine, this is an important development. The useful question is no longer whether patients should receive lifestyle intervention or pharmacological treatment. It is how nutrition, physical activity, sleep, behavior change, psychological health, social support, appropriate medication and, when indicated, metabolic and bariatric surgery can be combined to improve health over the long term.

Obesity is increasingly relevant to Viet Nam

Obesity is not primarily a health problem of Western high-income countries. Viet Nam is experiencing rapid changes in nutrition, urbanization, food environments, working patterns and physical activity.

The Ministry of Health portal reported in March 2026 that approximately 19.5% of the Vietnamese population, equivalent to about 20 million people, were living with overweight or obesity. This figure refers to overweight and obesity combined, not to 20 million people with obesity alone. The same report cited National Institute of Nutrition data showing that overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years increased from 8.5% in 2010 to 19.0% in 2020.

The food environment is changing at the same time. In September 2026, World Health Organization Viet Nam highlighted increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods, fast foods and sugar-sweetened beverages as part of the country's growing burden of noncommunicable diseases. The same statement also recognized strengths in Vietnamese cuisine, including fresh ingredients and abundant fruit and vegetables.

The goal should therefore not be to replace Vietnamese food culture with an imported “obesity diet.” It is to protect and strengthen healthy elements of local dietary patterns while responding to an environment in which highly processed and energy-dense foods are increasingly available.

Obesity is a chronic disease, not a failure of willpower

Modern obesity care moves away from a moral explanation of body weight. The World Health Organization describes obesity as a complex chronic disease influenced by biological, behavioral, environmental and social factors, and its 2025 guideline explicitly frames obesity as chronic and relapsing.

This does not make behavior irrelevant. Nutrition, physical activity, sleep and other daily behaviors remain important. But those behaviors occur within biological systems that regulate appetite, satiety and energy expenditure, and within social and environmental conditions that affect food access, stress, activity and opportunities for healthy living.

This also helps explain why long-term weight maintenance can be difficult. Physiological adaptations after weight loss can increase hunger and favor energy conservation. A person who regains weight has not necessarily failed to follow instructions or lacked motivation. Recurrence may reflect the biology of a chronic disease, withdrawal or change of treatment, changes in the person's environment, or several factors acting together.

Lifestyle Medicine should therefore strengthen personal agency without turning body weight into a judgment about character.

Body mass index is useful, but it is not the whole clinical assessment

Body mass index remains a practical tool for classification and initial risk assessment, but obesity care should not be reduced to a single number.

The Ministry of Health's current professional guideline uses Asian-specific thresholds. A body mass index of 23.0 to 24.9 kg/m² is classified as overweight, 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m² as grade I obesity, and 30 kg/m² or above as grade II obesity. The guideline also considers central adiposity and uses waist circumference thresholds of at least 90 cm for men and 80 cm for women.

Clinical assessment needs to go further. Blood pressure, glucose regulation, lipid levels, fatty liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, reproductive health, psychological health, eating disorders, medication use and physical function may all be relevant. The Vietnamese guideline also emphasizes associated disease, health status and quality of life rather than defining success only through weight or body mass index.

This becomes particularly important when highly effective weight-reduction treatments are available. Losing a large number of kilograms can be clinically meaningful, but the more important question is what happens to the patient's health, physical capacity, nutrition, symptoms and quality of life.

What has changed with GLP-1-based medicines?

Glucagon-like peptide-1, usually abbreviated as GLP-1, is a naturally occurring gut hormone involved in glucose regulation, appetite and satiety. Medicines that activate the GLP-1 receptor can reduce appetite, increase satiety and influence glucose metabolism.

Not all newer incretin-based medicines work in exactly the same way. Tirzepatide, for example, acts on both the GLP-1 receptor and the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor. For practical purposes, recent multidisciplinary advisories sometimes use terms such as “GLP-1s” broadly to include GLP-1 receptor agonists and related combination incretin therapies.

Clinical trials have shown substantial average weight reduction with these newer therapies, although results vary between medicines, populations and individuals. A 2025 multidisciplinary advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, American Society for Nutrition, Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society summarized weight reductions of approximately 5% to 18% in clinical trials, with generally more modest effects in real-world analyses.

Their potential benefits also extend beyond appearance or the number on a scale. In the SELECT trial, semaglutide reduced major cardiovascular events in adults with established cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity who did not have diabetes. In the SURMOUNT-OSA trials, tirzepatide improved obstructive sleep apnea severity, body weight and several cardiometabolic outcomes among participants with obesity and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea.

These findings demonstrate that modern obesity pharmacotherapy can produce clinically important benefits. It should be evaluated as medical treatment, not simply as cosmetic weight loss.

What does the World Health Organization now recommend?

The World Health Organization's December 2025 guideline contains two major conditional recommendations. It states that GLP-1 therapies may be used for the long-term treatment of adults living with obesity, excluding pregnant women. The recommendation is conditional because important uncertainties remain around long-term efficacy and safety, maintenance and discontinuation, costs, health-system readiness and equity. For this global recommendation, the World Health Organization defines adult obesity using a body mass index of 30 kg/m² or above.

The guideline also states that adults receiving these medicines may be offered intensive behavioral interventions that include structured healthy eating and physical activity. The evidence supporting the additional benefit of these structured interventions alongside medication was considered low certainty, which is why this recommendation is also conditional.

This should not be interpreted to mean that the World Health Organization considers nutrition and physical activity unimportant. Its broader position is that medicines belong within comprehensive chronic obesity care, alongside healthier environments, prevention and lifelong person-centered treatment.

The World Health Organization is also developing separate implementation guidance on how GLP-1 therapies could be prioritized and allocated within multimodal obesity care. As of September 2026, this implementation guidance has not yet been finalized. The current World Health Organization timetable anticipates finalization in February 2027.

This distinction is important when interpreting rapidly evolving international recommendations.

International guidance does not automatically determine treatment eligibility in Viet Nam

The body mass index thresholds used by international guidance and Vietnamese clinical guidance are not identical.

The World Health Organization's 2025 recommendation for GLP-1 therapy addresses adults with obesity defined using a body mass index of at least 30 kg/m². The Ministry of Health guideline for Vietnamese clinical practice uses Asian-specific classification and defines obesity beginning at 25 kg/m².

These two thresholds should not simply be combined to conclude that every Vietnamese adult with a body mass index of 25 kg/m² automatically qualifies for a newer GLP-1-based medicine.

The Ministry of Health's Decision No. 2892/QĐ-BYT of October 22, 2022 remains an important national clinical reference for obesity. It identifies lifestyle intervention as the foundation of treatment, describes criteria for considering pharmacotherapy and lists the obesity medicines relevant to Vietnamese guidance at the time the document was issued.

The pharmacotherapy section was written in the context of the medicines and evidence available in 2022. It should therefore not be mechanically extrapolated to determine eligibility for newer therapies introduced, registered or evaluated subsequently.

The Ministry of Health's Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT of July 1, 2026, which provides professional guidance on nutrition measures for disease prevention, continues to refer obesity-specific management to the 2022 obesity guideline.

At the same time, newer international evidence and World Health Organization recommendations have emerged since 2022. Good practice therefore requires distinguishing between international evidence, Vietnamese clinical guidance, and the current regulatory status of an individual medicine in Viet Nam.

A global guideline does not by itself create Vietnamese marketing authorization, an approved indication, reimbursement entitlement or prescribing authority.

GLP-1 medicines are not for everyone who wants to lose weight

The rapid popularity of these therapies has blurred the boundary between treatment of a chronic disease and cosmetic weight loss, making appropriate clinical indication and supervision particularly important.

In July 2026, World Health Organization safety committees expressed concern about the growing number of people obtaining GLP-1 receptor agonists outside approved indications and medical settings, including through online platforms and informal channels. The statement specifically highlighted self-directed use driven by social media and online marketing.

The World Health Organization also states that these therapies are not appropriate for everyone and should be prescribed on the basis of individual health history and clinical indication. Availability itself varies across countries because of registration status, cost, production and supply.

For people in Viet Nam, an injectable product advertised on social media or obtained from an informal seller should not be assumed to be appropriate, authentic, registered for a particular indication or safe merely because the label resembles an internationally recognized medicine.

Lifestyle Medicine should support access to effective pharmacological treatment when clinically appropriate, but it should also support responsible prescribing, medication quality and patient safety.

Lifestyle Medicine does not become less important when medication becomes more effective

A common misconception in the GLP-1 era is that powerful appetite reduction makes lifestyle care unnecessary. In reality, effective pharmacotherapy changes some of the challenges that lifestyle care needs to address, but it does not eliminate them.

Before treatment begins, clinicians still need to understand the patient's usual food intake, physical activity, sleep, mental health, eating behavior, substance use, social circumstances, medical conditions and previous experiences with weight management. Treatment goals also need to extend beyond a target body weight.

The 2025 multidisciplinary advisory recommends baseline assessment of dietary patterns, emotional triggers, disordered eating, relevant medical conditions, muscle strength and function, body composition where appropriate, social determinants of health and other lifestyle domains. During treatment, it emphasizes nutritional adequacy, management of gastrointestinal adverse effects, muscle and bone preservation and ongoing lifestyle support.

This closely aligns with Lifestyle Medicine. Healthy eating, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of harmful substances, positive social connection and behavior-change skills remain relevant before, during and after pharmacological obesity treatment.

Eating less is not the same as eating well

Reduced appetite can make weight loss easier, but it can also make adequate nutrition more challenging. A person eating substantially less food needs to obtain sufficient protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients from a smaller total intake. Gastrointestinal adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation or early satiety can further affect dietary intake in some patients.

The 2025 joint advisory therefore emphasizes nutrient-dense foods, adequate hydration, monitoring for nutritional inadequacy and individualized management of gastrointestinal symptoms.

The goal during treatment should not simply be to consume the smallest possible number of calories. It should be to support clinically appropriate weight reduction while maintaining nutritional adequacy, metabolic health and an eating pattern that can be sustained.

For patients in Viet Nam, this often means using familiar foods rather than assuming that expensive specialized products are necessary. Vegetables, legumes, tofu and other soy foods, fish, eggs, suitable dairy products, nuts, seeds and appropriate whole or less-refined grains can all contribute, depending on the patient's nutritional needs, medical conditions, preferences and overall eating pattern.

There is no single “GLP-1 diet” that is appropriate for everyone.

Protecting muscle and physical function matters

Weight reduction is not composed entirely of body fat. Loss of lean tissue can occur with substantial weight loss from dietary restriction, pharmacological treatment and other interventions.

This does not mean that GLP-1-based medicines should be described as inherently “muscle-destroying.” The more useful clinical point is that rapid or substantial weight loss makes preservation of muscle, bone and physical function more important, particularly for older adults, people with low baseline muscle mass and those who are physically inactive.

The multidisciplinary advisory emphasizes adequate dietary protein together with structured resistance or strength training. Importantly, it notes that increasing protein intake alone is unlikely to preserve muscle adequately without appropriate muscle-loading exercise.

From a Lifestyle Medicine perspective, treatment assessment therefore needs to move beyond the question, “How much weight has the patient lost?” Clinicians may also need to ask what has happened to strength, mobility, exercise capacity, body composition and the ability to perform everyday activities.

For an older adult, preserving independence and the ability to walk, climb stairs and perform daily activities may be more important than achieving the lowest possible body weight.

Physical activity remains important even when weight loss is medication-assisted

Exercise provides benefits that cannot be reproduced simply by suppressing appetite.

Aerobic activity supports cardiovascular health, cardiorespiratory fitness and insulin sensitivity. Resistance exercise helps preserve strength, muscle and physical function. Physical activity may also support sleep, mental health and long-term weight management.

The joint advisory recommends combining pharmacological treatment with structured physical activity, including resistance training and aerobic exercise, while adapting the program to the individual's physical capacity and medical circumstances.

The value of exercise should therefore not be judged only by how many kilograms it removes from the scale. Someone who has been inactive for years may need to start with walking, gradual increases in daily movement or basic strength exercises rather than an intensive exercise program.

The objective is to build physical capacity that remains valuable regardless of the amount of weight lost.

Sleep, stress and psychological health still matter

Obesity treatment that focuses only on food and exercise can miss important factors influencing both health and treatment success.

Obstructive sleep apnea is particularly relevant because it is common in people living with obesity and can affect cardiovascular health, daytime function and quality of life. Depression, anxiety, binge eating, emotional eating, chronic sleep deprivation, stress and weight stigma can also affect treatment decisions and the ability to sustain change.

These issues do not mean obesity is simply a psychological problem. They are components of comprehensive clinical assessment.

The 2025 joint advisory specifically includes sleep, mental stress, substance use and social connection within the lifestyle assessment accompanying GLP-1-based treatment.

Lifestyle Medicine contributes by treating behavior change as an ongoing clinical process, rather than assuming that reduced appetite automatically resolves all the circumstances in which obesity developed.

Success should be measured by health, not only kilograms

Body weight is an important treatment outcome, but it is not the only one. Effective treatment may improve blood pressure, glucose regulation, lipid levels, fatty liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, mobility, joint symptoms, cardiovascular risk, physical function or quality of life.

The Vietnamese obesity guideline already reflects this broader approach. It addresses associated metabolic and physical conditions and emphasizes health, quality of life and maintenance rather than defining successful care only through weight reduction.

This helps avoid replacing an old problem, stigma around obesity, with a new one, the pursuit of an arbitrary “ideal weight.”

A more clinically useful question is: How much is treatment improving health, function and quality of life, and is that benefit being achieved with an acceptable level of burden and risk?

What happens if GLP-1 treatment is stopped?

This is one of the most important issues to discuss before treatment begins.

In the STEP 1 extension, both semaglutide and the structured lifestyle intervention provided within the trial were discontinued at week 68. During the following year, participants who had previously received semaglutide regained approximately two-thirds of their prior weight loss, and several cardiometabolic improvements moved back toward baseline. Because the medication and trial lifestyle intervention were stopped together, the extension cannot isolate the effect of medication withdrawal from withdrawal of the structured lifestyle support.

A similar broad pattern was demonstrated in SURMOUNT-4. After an initial 36 weeks of tirzepatide treatment, participants randomized to switch to placebo regained substantial weight, while those who continued tirzepatide generally maintained and further increased their initial weight reduction.

These findings do not mean the medicines “do not work.” They reinforce the chronic and relapsing nature of obesity and the importance of planning treatment for the long term rather than assuming that a short medication course will permanently reset body weight.

Before starting therapy, clinician and patient should therefore discuss expected duration, potential adverse effects, monitoring, affordability, the possibility of interruption or discontinuation and what the longer-term management strategy might be.

Lifestyle Medicine is not a guarantee against weight regain either

The opposite overstatement should also be avoided. It would be misleading to promise that sufficiently strong lifestyle habits will necessarily prevent weight regain after pharmacological treatment is stopped.

Lifestyle intervention can support healthier eating, physical activity, muscle preservation, self-management and weight maintenance, but knowledge and motivation do not eliminate the underlying biology of obesity.

Evidence on the optimal approach after discontinuation of newer medicines continues to evolve. The 2025 multidisciplinary advisory identifies post-treatment nutrition, weight-maintenance strategies and staged combinations of medication with intensive lifestyle intervention as areas requiring further study.

Lifestyle Medicine should therefore be presented as a central component of comprehensive obesity care, not as a guarantee that every patient will eventually be able to stop medication without recurrence.

Equity matters in the GLP-1 era

Highly effective treatment creates an important health-equity question: who will actually be able to benefit from it?

The World Health Organization has warned that costs, limited supply and insufficient health-system capacity could make GLP-1 therapies inaccessible to many people. Even with rapid expansion of manufacturing, it estimates that fewer than 10% of people who could benefit may have access by 2030 unless deliberate measures are taken to improve affordability, availability and health-system readiness.

Access to medication is only part of the issue. Access to nutritious food, safe spaces for physical activity, clinical nutrition services, psychological support, appropriate follow-up and qualified clinicians also varies.

Comprehensive obesity care should therefore not evolve into a system in which people with greater resources receive advanced medication plus multidisciplinary support while those with fewer resources are simply told to “change their lifestyle.”

Lifestyle Medicine has an important role in keeping equity, context and realistic treatment options within the obesity conversation.

The Vietnamese clinical framework already supports comprehensive obesity care

There is substantial alignment between contemporary Lifestyle Medicine and the principles already present in Viet Nam's obesity guidance.

The Ministry of Health's Decision No. 2892/QĐ-BYT of October 22, 2022 established the national professional guideline for diagnosis and treatment of obesity. It describes obesity as a chronic, multifactorial condition and places lifestyle intervention at the foundation of sustainable treatment, including nutrition, physical activity, behavior change and psychological support. The guideline also supports multidisciplinary management and long-term follow-up.

It does not define success solely through weight reduction. Management of comorbidities, physical health, psychological wellbeing and quality of life are also part of the broader treatment objective.

The guideline predates both the World Health Organization's 2025 GLP-1 guideline and several recent pharmacological developments. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health's Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT of July 1, 2026, on professional nutrition measures for disease prevention, continues to direct obesity-specific management to the 2022 guideline.

This makes it especially important to distinguish between newly emerging international evidence and Viet Nam's current clinical and regulatory framework rather than assuming they are identical.

Medication needs to remain medical treatment

Prescription obesity treatment should take place within appropriate clinical care.

Under Viet Nam's Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, medical examination and treatment are regulated healthcare activities. The currently consolidated law is Consolidated Document No. 26/VBHN-VPQH dated February 26, 2026.

The lawful circulation, registration and approved information of medicinal products are also governed by Viet Nam's pharmaceutical regulatory framework. The Law on Pharmacy is currently consolidated in Consolidated Document No. 76/VBHN-VPQH dated March 25, 2026.

For this reason, a World Health Organization recommendation or an international clinical trial result does not automatically establish that a particular medicine or formulation is currently registered in Viet Nam for obesity, approved for a particular indication, reimbursed, or appropriate for an individual patient.

The status of any specific medicine should be checked against its current Vietnamese registration, approved product information and applicable prescribing rules at the time treatment is considered.

This is especially important in a market increasingly influenced by social media. Patients should not choose prescription incretin therapies themselves, change doses without medical supervision, share medication or purchase injectable products from unverified sources based on online testimonials.

Effective obesity pharmacotherapy deserves the same standards of prescribing, product quality, monitoring and patient safety as other forms of medical treatment.

What should comprehensive obesity care look like in Viet Nam?

A strong clinical model should begin by treating obesity as a chronic health condition rather than primarily as a cosmetic problem. Assessment can include body mass index and waist circumference, but it should also consider obesity-related conditions, medications, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, mental health, eating behavior, physical function and the social circumstances that may influence treatment.

The patient's priorities matter. One person may be primarily concerned about mobility or joint pain. Another may be concerned about diabetes risk, sleep apnea, fertility, cardiovascular health or quality of life. A person-centered treatment plan should connect weight management with outcomes that are meaningful to that individual.

Lifestyle intervention then needs to be specific enough to act on. Nutrition should be culturally relevant and nutritionally adequate. Physical activity should support both cardiovascular health and preservation of strength and function. Sleep disorders, disordered eating and psychological needs should be identified when relevant. Behavior-change support should help patients build sustainable routines without blame or stigma.

Medication can be added when clinically indicated, appropriately registered and prescribed within the Vietnamese legal framework. For people receiving GLP-1-based therapies, follow-up should include treatment response, adverse effects, nutrition, hydration, physical function and, where relevant, muscle health.

Metabolic and bariatric surgery remains an evidence-based option for appropriately selected patients and should not be portrayed as a failure of lifestyle intervention or pharmacotherapy. Comprehensive care means choosing among available treatments according to disease severity, expected benefit, potential risk, patient preference and professional expertise.

Most importantly, care should continue after initial weight loss. The long-term objective is not simply to reduce weight. It is to improve health and sustain that improvement.

The GLP-1 era should make obesity care more comprehensive, not less

The emergence of highly effective obesity medicines is one of the most important developments in metabolic medicine in recent years, but it should not force clinicians or patients into an artificial choice between pharmacology and Lifestyle Medicine.

Lifestyle Medicine addresses nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, behavior change, social connection and the environment in which a person lives. Modern pharmacotherapy can influence biological drivers of appetite and weight regulation that may be difficult to overcome through behavior alone. Metabolic surgery can provide powerful treatment for appropriately selected patients. These interventions work on different parts of a complex disease.

A stronger model is therefore person-centered, evidence-based, multidisciplinary and long-term care that uses the appropriate combination of interventions for the individual patient at the appropriate time.

For Viet Nam, this approach offers an opportunity to respond to a rising obesity burden without repeating the mistakes of either extreme: blaming people for a chronic disease, or reducing obesity treatment to a prescription while overlooking nutrition, physical function, behavior, social context and long-term follow-up.

In the era of GLP-1-based medicines, good Lifestyle Medicine is not becoming obsolete. More effective pharmacotherapy makes the need for better integrated Lifestyle Medicine even clearer.

References

1. World Health Organization. WHO guideline on the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 therapies for the treatment of obesity in adults. 2025.

2. World Health Organization. Obesity: GLP-1 therapies. December 2, 2025.

3. World Health Organization. Call for experts: WHO Expert Group on Implementation Guidance for the use of GLP-1 Therapies in Obesity Care. June 1, 2026.

4. World Health Organization. Statement on the safe and appropriate use of GLP-1 receptor agonists. July 30, 2026.

5. Mozaffarian D, Agarwal M, Aggarwal M, et al. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association, and The Obesity Society. Obesity. 2025;33(8):1475–1503. doi:10.1002/oby.24336.

6. Lincoff AM, Brown-Frandsen K, Colhoun HM, et al. Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes. New England Journal of Medicine. 2023;389:2221–2232. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2307563.

7. Malhotra A, Grunstein RR, Fietze I, et al. Tirzepatide for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity. New England Journal of Medicine. 2024;391:1193–1205. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2404881.

8. Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Davies M, et al. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. 2022;24(8):1553–1564. doi:10.1111/dom.14725.

9. Aronne LJ, Sattar N, Horn DB, et al. Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity: The SURMOUNT-4 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2024;331(1):38–48. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.24945.

10. Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Decision No. 2892/QĐ-BYT issuing the Professional Guideline for Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity. October 22, 2022.

11. Ministry of Health of Viet Nam. Decision No. 1982/QĐ-BYT issuing professional guidance on nutrition measures for disease prevention. July 1, 2026.

12. Ministry of Health of Viet Nam portal. Approximately 20 million Vietnamese people are living with overweight or obesity. March 7, 2026.

13. World Health Organization Viet Nam. Speech of Dr Angela Pratt at the KOL Workshop on Nutrition and NCDs. September 15, 2026.

14. Office of the National Assembly of Viet Nam. Consolidated Document No. 26/VBHN-VPQH, Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. February 26, 2026.

15. Office of the National Assembly of Viet Nam. Consolidated Document No. 76/VBHN-VPQH, Law on Pharmacy. March 25, 2026.

This article is intended for professional education and general information. It does not provide individualized medical advice or recommend any specific prescription medicine. Decisions about obesity diagnosis, pharmacological treatment, medication selection, dose adjustment or discontinuation should be made by appropriately qualified and legally authorized healthcare professionals based on the individual's clinical circumstances, the current registration and approved indication of the medicine in Viet Nam, and applicable Vietnamese law.

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