Promoting the effectiveness of the Tobacco Harm Prevention Fund

Da Huoai District Youth Union organizes a contest to propagate tobacco control in schools

The annual budget for implementing the contents of the Law on Tobacco Control is mainly from the Tobacco Control Fund, with a total budget for the period 2015 - 2024 of more than 8.5 billion VND. The Tobacco Control Fund mainly supports communication activities, training, and professional training. In addition, the Tobacco Control Fund has actively supported localities in developing plans to implement the Law on Tobacco Control, organizing communication activities on Tobacco Control as well as improving the capacity to carry out investigation and survey activities, improving monitoring capacity... The Tobacco Control Fund plays a very important role in supporting Lam Dong province in implementing tobacco control activities such as supporting implementation funding, assigning officers in charge of guiding the implementation of activities, guiding payment and settlement according to current regulations, organizing training to improve capacity and expertise for focal officers in charge of activities.

Results of implementing tasks supported by the Fund such as communicating about the harmful effects of tobacco and tobacco control suitable for each target group. Propaganda work through many diverse and rich forms has brought about effectiveness, practicality, and suitability for the target group and the actual situation of the locality. In the past 10 years, 2 provincial-level rallies and 42 district-level rallies have been organized in response to the National No Tobacco Week; 1 workshop was organized with the participation of 50 leaders of departments, branches, localities, and leaders of units under the Department of Health ; 29 reports on tobacco control were produced and broadcast on Lam Dong provincial television and district and city television; 176 communication messages were broadcast on television and 822 messages were broadcast on provincial and district radio stations; Broadcast 1,990 propaganda messages on the loudspeaker systems of 12 district health centers and 147 communes, wards, towns, and hospitals about the benefits of a smoke-free environment and the harmful effects of tobacco; create 50 special pages on Lam Dong Newspaper about tobacco control activities in the province.

Develop and deploy pilot models of smoke-free communities, agencies and organizations; develop and replicate effective models. Every year, the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial Steering Committee for Tobacco Control promptly issue plans and documents to direct the implementation of the Law and tobacco control activities, and communicate in response to World No Tobacco Day and National Smoke-Free Week. Organize 13 training courses for 495 officials participating in tobacco control activities across the province; 10 courses for 300 officials who are medical staff of hospitals and district-level medical centers with the content of guiding smoking cessation in the community, skills in counseling on smoking cessation; 5 training courses for 260 officials who are managers and employees of restaurants and hotels in Da Lat City on instructions for building a smoke-free environment in restaurants and hotels. Produced 207 hanging and erected billboards at district health centers and commune health stations with tobacco control content. Produced 113,000 leaflets, posters, 500 banners, 4,700 no-smoking signs to promote tobacco control and distributed to agencies, departments, branches, schools, and medical units in the industry.

Organizing community-based tobacco control campaigns and initiatives; advising on the organization of designated areas for smokers in public places. Organizing 3 competitions to learn about tobacco control in Lam Dong province. Training 150 village health workers on community-based tobacco cessation counseling. Research provides evidence for tobacco control such as organizing surveys to monitor tobacco use and evaluating the implementation results of the Tobacco Control Law in the province. Using the results of research, evaluation, survey, and investigation at the local level to serve local tobacco control activities such as: Assessing people's knowledge about the harmful effects of tobacco on health and the current status of implementing a smoke-free environment in the province; developing and implementing a local tobacco control plan; developing content and organizing communication on mass media suitable for each target group...

Building, supporting activities, and training to improve the capacity of a network of collaborators working on tobacco control. Organizing 4 training courses for 134 inspectors from various sectors and police on the harmful effects of tobacco, regulations of the Tobacco Control Law and guiding documents. Developing content and organizing the inclusion of education on the harmful effects and tobacco control into the educational program appropriate for all levels. Training 12 courses for 360 teachers and staff working in schools across the province on tobacco control to teach at schools. The Education and Training sector has integrated into extracurricular activities the content of propaganda and dissemination of topics on the harmful effects of regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes; the implementation of smoke-free environments in primary, secondary and high schools in the province with more than 1,000 sessions.

Every year, the Department of Health organizes monitoring and inspections of tobacco control activities at units; a total of 6 monitoring sessions have been organized at 61 agencies, offices, hospitals, schools, hotels, and factories in Lam Dong province. The monitoring content is the development of annual tobacco control activity plans of units; the implementation of the Tobacco Control Law; and the implementation of regulations on building a smoke-free environment for units and agencies.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/xa-hoi/202505/phat-huy-hieu-qua-quy-phong-chong-tac-hai-cua-thuoc-la-1c121b2/