Consumption of alcoholic drinks balloons in Vietnam

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The consumption of alcoholic drinks in Vietnam has ballooned over the past decade, according to the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health.

At a workshop held in Hanoi on November 11 on collecting opinions on the draft law on prevention and control of harmful effects of a lcohol and beer , the Department said the rate of taking alcoholic drinks among males aged from 24 to 64 increased from 69.6 percent to 80.3 percent between 2011-2015.

The rate among females rose from 5.6 percent to 11.2 percent.

The MoH’s data in 2015 showed 44.2 percent of men were consuming alcoholic drinks at a harmful degree and 47.9 percent drove vehicles after drinking.

Statistics also showed between 2005 and 2010, the average rate of using alcoholic drinks in Vietnam among people aged 15 and above nearly doubled (from 3.8 litres to 6.6 litres).

Vietnam has become the largest beer consumption country in Southeast Asia and the third largest in Asia.

Reports at the workshop also stressed drinking is one of the major reasons leading to 30 percent of social order disruption cases and 33.7 percent of domestic violence cases in Vietnam.

The direct economic costs to treat six common types of cancer in Vietnam, five of which are related to alcoholic drinks, amount to 25 trillion VND (1.12 billion USD), or 0.22 percent of national GDP in 2012. Of the costs, 42.4 percent was shouldered by families, 27.7 percent by the health insurance and 17.1 percent by the government.

According to a survey by the University of Public Health in 2014 at over 700 places selling alcoholic drinks in Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang, up to 93 percent of them hang advertisement boards outside the shop and 8.2 percent of shops still publicly advertising alcoholic drinks of more than 15 degrees, which is banned by law.

Participants at the workshop recommended the government to soon complete the draft law on prevention and control of harmful effects of a lcohol and beer, and the National Assembly put the law on its law building agenda in 2017.

They also called for the revision of the law on special consumption tax on tobacco and alcoholic drinks.-VNA