Preventing, combating tobacco’s harm faces many difficulties: experts

Minister of Health Đào Hồng Lan. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — The Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harm has been implemented for 10 years and the results achieved are remarkable, but arising real-life problems requires stronger solutions in the coming time, heard a conference on Tuesday.

An the conference to review the enforcement of the law, Minister of Health Đào Hồng Lan said with the determination to protect public health, the National Assembly (NA) put the law into effect since May 1, 2013.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) presiders over and coordinates with other ministries, departments, provinces and cities to conduct the law.

The law has marked a major turning point in the prevention and control of tobacco harms in Việt Nam.

It was assessed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as quite comprehensive and consistent with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

It also demonstrates Việt Nam’s strong commitment to protecting current and future generations from physical, economic and environmental harms caused by tobacco.

Minister Lan said that given the disease burden caused by tobacco, preventing and combating tobacco harm were becoming a top priority public health issue around the world.

Tobacco use is rapidly shifting from developed to developing countries, causing harmful impacts to countries, including Việt Nam.

Effective measures that countries are trying to take include implementing smoke-free spaces, printing health warnings with images that cover a large area on tobacco products, and increasing tobacco taxes.

However, she said, the work still faced many difficulties and challenges.

The smoking rate has decreased, but Việt Nam is still in the group of 15 countries with the highest number of smokers in the world, with 38.9 per cent of over-15-year-old men smoking.

Second-hand smoke exposure is quite common in restaurants, bars and crowded places.

Việt Nam’s cigarette tax is still very low.

Tobacco is sold everywhere and is easy for people to access, especially teenagers.

In recent years, products called electronic cigarettes, heated cigarettes and shisha have appeared.

The use of e-cigarettes is increasing rapidly, especially among students.

“These difficulties greatly affect efforts to prevent and control tobacco harm, and are leading causes of increasing smoking rates if we do not take timely measures,” she said.

Dr Angela Pratt, WHO representative in Việt Nam, said that Việt Nam had not made progress fast enough to realise the goals of the national tobacco harm prevention and control strategy, the Healthy Việt Nam Programme and the Sustainable Development Goals.

One of the reasons is that cigarette taxes are very low, which makes it easy for young people to start smoking and does not create determination for smokers to quit.

Besides, the rate of young people using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco is alarmingly high.

This situation will create a new generation addicted to nicotine, threatening Việt Nam’s achievements in recent times.

She emphasised: “We must do everything we can to protect young people from using tobacco, or any product that could cause addiction to nicotine.”

Preventing someone from starting to use these products when they are young, is like giving them a vaccine protecting them against tobacco harm and lifelong nicotine addiction, because people were less likely to start using tobacco or nicotine when they were adults, she said.

Associate professor Lương Ngọc Khuê, director of the Department of Medical Service Administration under the MoH and also director of the Tobacco Harm Prevention Fund, said nowhere else are cigarettes as cheap as in Việt Nam, and nowhere are they as easy to access as they are in Việt Nam.

Besides, the rate of e-cigarette smoking among women and young people is increasing.

Traditional cigarettes cause slow death, but new kinds of cigarettes can cause immediate consequences, even death.

Therefore, “we need to make more efforts to together prevent and repel the tobacco epidemic,” said Khuê.

To implement Việt Nam’s commitments when participating in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the MoH calls on ministries, provinces and cities to pay attention and further strengthen the implementation of the law.

They should change community awareness and behaviour towards tobacco use to build a smoke-free environment, and support increasing taxes and prices of tobacco products.

The MoH proposed localities promote inspecting and handling violations related to preventing tobacco harm, and suggested the Government and the NA soon issue a resolution banning new tobacco products to reduce the rate of tobacco use. — VNS