Tobacco is a burden on society with a total cost of medical examination, treatment, illness, and death of VND108 trillion (US$4.24 billion) a year, Health Minister Dao Hong Lan told a meeting in Hanoi on May 26 to respond to World No Tobacco Day 2024 (May 31) and National No-Tobacco Week from May 25-31.
Lan cited statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO) as saying that each year more than 8 million deaths are reported to be related to tobacco use globally.
The minister said that a report summing up the 10-year implementation of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control shows that the rate of regular cigarette use among adult men decreased by an annual average of 0.5 percent from 47.4 percent in 2010 to 38.9 percent in 2023.
The smoking rate among adolescents has decreased, from 5.36 percent in 2013 to 2.78 percent in 2019 in the age group of 13-17, and that of second-hand smoke exposure has also reduced significantly in households and public places and at workplaces.
These are very encouraging results in the work of preventing and controlling the harmful effects of tobacco. However, these achievements are at risk of being destroyed by the rapid increase in the rate of new tobacco use, mainly electronic and heated tobaccos.
Notably, in the age group of 13-15, the rate doubled from 3.5 percent in 2022 to 8 percent in 2023, the minister emphasized.
Therefore, on May 13, the Prime Minister issued an official dispatch directing relevant ministries, sectors and agencies to strengthen measures to promptly prevent e-cigarette and heated tobacco products nationwide.
Dr. Angela Pratt, WHO Representative in Vietnam, said that banning electronic and heated cigarettes, and increasing tobacco taxes will help Vietnam achieve the goals set out in the Vietnam Health Plan as well as its international commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals.
