Vietnam is striving to reduce the rate of tobacco use among males aged from 15 to less than 39% in the 2023 – 2025 period as set out in the freshly-approved National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control to 2030.
The smoking rate among men in many provinces and cities last year fell compared to 2017 as a result of agencies’ efforts to implement tobacco harm-prevention programmes, Dr Phan Thi Hai, deputy head of the Tobacco Harm Prevention Fund, said at a conference held in HCM City last week.
Tourism managers and experts all affirmed the need to build a smoke-free environment to develop tourism in Hanoi at a conference in the capital city on March 20.
A three-month social media campaign against smoking was launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam in partnership with key tobacco control partners in Hanoi on September 27.
Support hotlines have been set up and a tax hike has been mooted to tackle smoking in Vietnam, where more than 100 people are killed by smoking-related diseases per day.
The rates of passive smoking both at home and workplaces in Vietnam declined from 73.1 percent and 55.9 percent in 2010 to 59.9 percent and 42.6 percent last year, respectively.
Society
