At a seminar held in Hanoi on May 27 to review 10 years of implementation of the government’s "National Tobacco Control Policy 2000 -2010”, it was found that although the rate of female smokers had fallen to 1.4 percent, achieving the 2 percent target was still unreachable.
Although the number of smokers in the country have reduced substantially, medical experts and WHO say Vietnam is amongst the 15 countries with a very high rate of male smokers (15 million adult smokers). The country has an estimated 21 million male smokers.
Moreover, medical workers fret as the number of smokers contracting tobacco-related diseases is increasing. This shows that the ban on smoking in public places has been ineffective.
According to the Ministry of Health statistics, the ratio of smokers have reduced since the last 10 years of the resolution though the results are still lagging. Male smokers have fallen from 56 percent in 2001 to around 47 percent in 2010.
Meanwhile the ban on smoking in public places issued in 2010 was not successful as people still smoke in bus stations, parks, schools, hospitals and offices. One year ago, some smokers were fined for smoking in public places.
According to WHO estimates, by 2020 the mortality rate due to tobacco consumption will be higher than the mortality rate for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, road accidents or suicides combined.
