Health promotion plays an important role in the management of diabetes and chronic kidney disease, diseases were the prevalence is rising in Vietnam. Nurses have been identified to be  in front of the health promoting work. However, little is written about how nurses in Vietnam work with these issues. Therefore the aim of this study was to describe nurses’ conceptions about how health is promoted, with special focus on physical activity, for patients with type 2 diabetes [TDM2] and/or end stage renal disease [ESRD]. Individual interviews were done with 25 nurses’ working at two major hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam. A phenomenographical approach was used to analyze the interviews. Nurses described how health was promoted by creating a positive relationships and supporting patients to take part in their social context. Health was also promoted by educating patients and relatives about health, disease and self-care, and by supporting patients to be physical active. The findings indicate that the Vietnamese nurses’ knowledge about health promotion needs to be studied and health promotion needs to be further integrated in the education. Further research is necessary to examine patients’ knowledge and attitudes about health and the efficiency of various health promoting strategies in the Vietnamese context .