Hierarchical management of advertising for health supplements.

From July 1st, 2026, the authority to issue certificates confirming the content of health supplement advertisements will be transferred from the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. This is a step in the decentralization and delegation of authority, aiming to innovate the management methods of the health supplement market.

Authorities inspect food safety practices at Morinaga Nutritional Foods Vietnam Joint Stock Company. (Photo: Provided)

For many years, centralizing all advertising records at a single point of contact has placed significant pressure on the management system. Businesses in localities wanting to obtain advertising content approval had to submit their applications to the Food Safety Department, which prolonged processing times, increased costs, and easily led to an overload of applications.

When authority is transferred to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the process is expected to be significantly shortened. The Departments of Health , as the agencies directly managing the locality, have a thorough understanding of the businesses' operations, thereby enabling them to conduct more accurate assessments and respond more quickly to market fluctuations.

More importantly, the new mechanism also holds local authorities accountable for controlling the quality and content of advertisements directly related to public health.

However, practice also raises many concerns. Health supplements are a specialized product group, and evaluating advertising content requires in-depth knowledge of medicine, nutrition, and pharmacology. The question arises whether the professional staff at the Departments of Health have sufficient capacity to assess all the new ingredients, complex uses, and increasingly sophisticated advertising methods.

Notably, misleading advertising is now occurring not only through traditional channels but also spreading across social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, through livestreaming and content distribution algorithms.

In this context, how will provincial-level management systems, accustomed to administrative boundaries, respond to the "matrix" of advertising across digital space? Without inter-agency coordination mechanisms and synchronized sanctions, the risk of a situation where some areas are strict while others are lax is unavoidable, creating loopholes for profiteering.

Decentralizing the management of advertising for health supplements to local authorities is a direction consistent with the requirements of administrative reform and streamlining the apparatus. However, decentralization does not mean loosening supervision.

The Ministry of Health needs to shift strongly towards a role in establishing common standards, conducting post-inspection, and unified supervision. Simultaneously, it needs to issue a clear and consistent set of assessment criteria and accelerate the digitalization of the licensing process to ensure synchronized implementation across localities.

In addition, it is necessary to organize intensive training programs to enhance the capacity of enforcement personnel at the grassroots level. Local authorities should proactively establish a close coordination mechanism between the Department of Health, media agencies, and market management forces, creating an interconnected monitoring system capable of controlling the advertising of health supplements in the new context.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/xa-hoi/202605/phan-cap-quan-ly-quang-cao-thuc-pham-bao-ve-suc-khoe-9331d9a/