According to Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, Ministry of Health, it is necessary to have solutions to promote tobacco harm prevention and control to protect people's health, especially youth, and reduce the economic burden.
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| Experts say that smoking has unpredictable effects on health, creating a burden on the economy for families and society. (Photo: Thu Trang) |
This morning (May 23), a seminar on providing information on prevention and control of tobacco harms took place in Hanoi. The event was organized by the Legal Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) in collaboration with HealthBridge Vietnam. This is also an activity to respond to World No Tobacco Day (May 5) and National No Tobacco Week (May 31-5).
Speaking at the Workshop, Mr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, Ministry of Health; The director of the Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Fund said that smoking has incalculable harms to health, creating a burden on the economy for families and society.
Therefore, it is necessary to have solutions to promote the prevention and control of tobacco harms to protect people's health, especially the youth, the future young generation of the country and reduce the economic burden.
Mr. Luong Ngoc Khue emphasized: “One of the main reasons for the high and slow decline in smoking rates is that Vietnam's tobacco tax is still very low. Tobacco prices are cheap, increasing the access to and purchase of tobacco by young people and the poor. In addition, new products such as e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes appear on the market.
At the same time, according to Mr. Khue, cigarettes in general and e-cigarettes in particular all contain addictive nicotine, which can be harmful to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems of the smoker and those around him.
According to a report by the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, up to 70-75% of patients who come to the facilities for examination and treatment are related to non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, metabolic disorders, blood fat, cholesterol, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Departments, cancer wards, cardiovascular and respiratory hospitals are overloaded. One of the main causes of these diseases is smoking.
Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns, we continue to fight these diseases, considering the prevention of tobacco harms as a responsibility to ourselves and the community.
According to the WHO study on youth health in the 13-17 age group in 2020, the rate of e-cigarette smoking accounts for 2,6%. In particular, the trend of using e-cigarettes is highly concentrated in the 15-24 age group with the rate of 7,3% compared with the age groups 25-44 (3,2%), 45-64 (1,4%).
Many experts believe that it is necessary to research to increase tobacco consumption tax to limit tobacco use as easily as it is today.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, representative of the Fund for Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control, e-cigarettes contain nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. Meanwhile, new tobacco products have a high potential risk and generate social evils, especially the use of drugs and addictive substances.
Notably, e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes increase the rate of conventional tobacco use, especially among children, adolescents, women and girls.
In order to reduce tobacco use in Vietnam, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong proposed and supported to increase tobacco tax, ban advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and widely communicate to the people through mass media. In particular, the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, the Law on Advertising and the Commercial Law clearly stipulates that tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing are prohibited directly to consumers in any form.
Talking at the seminar, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Lam (WHO expert in Vietnam) said that the price of cigarettes in Vietnam is very cheap (ranked 157/161 countries with data reported in 2020), easily accessible to young people and low-income people. In addition, the designs of electronic cigarettes and heated cigarettes are often eye-catching, aimed at young customers, and are easily bought and sold, so it is difficult to control.
According to Dr. Lam, the increase in excise tax on cigarettes has the effect of reducing the purchasing power of cigarettes, limiting young people's access to cheap cigarettes. Taxes and prices are a low-cost but highly effective solution for reducing tobacco consumption and an effective disease prevention solution that has been recommended by WHO and World Bank (WB) countries to apply.
Sharing the same opinion, Dr. Nguyen Thi An, Director of HealthBridge Vietnam, said that it is necessary to strengthen the enforcement of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms. At the same time, step up inspection and examination; strictly handle violations, in which focusing on handling violations of places where smoking is prohibited, violations of advertising, promotion and sponsorship, trading and trading of smuggled tobacco products.
Besides, it is necessary to increase the excise tax on cigarettes. In addition, it is necessary to issue a policy to ban the circulation of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in Vietnam as recommended by the Ministry of Health and WHO.
