Vietnam
Vietnam ratified the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on December 17, 2004. In May 2007, a smokefree directive was issued in Vietnam for government offices, indoor workplaces, production facilities, schools, hospitals, and public transportation. Smoking was still permitted in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. In 2009, Hanoi was considering some smokefree measures.
In August 2009, Vietnam announced that it would implement a nationwide smokefree air law beginning January 1, 2010.
| Smokefree News |
| No-smoking battle wins ground: poll HA NOI — Findings from a survey released yesterday revealed that 77 per cent of Vietnamese people who had seen anti-smoking material oppose being exposed to second-hand smoke in public places. The research was conducted as part of a national mass media campaign by the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Lung Foundation (WLF) to build support for a smoking ban in the workplace, indoor public areas and on public transport. The figure is 14 per cent higher than that of people who had not seen the material. This significant difference shows that more people would support a smoking ban if they had a better understanding of the harmful effects of smoking and passive smoking. The survey also found that more than 80 per cent of smokers said they were very concerned about their own heath and that of their family members after seeing the anti-smoking campaign. Seventy-five per cent of smokers said that they were more likely to quit. "Around 50 per cent of adults in Viet Nam smoke, the equivalent of 17 million people. We should not let more than 60 million people be exposed to second-hand smoke," said Director of Medical Services Administration and Standing Office for Viet Nam's Steering Committee on Smoking and Health Luong Ngoc Khue. The campaign, entitled "Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive", is being channelled via different media such as television, newspapers and posters. ... Anti-smoking website aims to collect 1 mil signatures A new website has been launched with the target of collecting one million signatures in support of a Vietnamese anti-smoking bill, a Health Ministry agency said on March 14. The website, http://clickkhongthuocla.vn, is the result of cooperative efforts between the ministry’s Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health (VINACOSH), Family Health International Office in Vietnam (FHI/Vietnam), and the Communist Youth Union Central Committee.Through the site, young people are offered a forum to exchange knowledge about the harmful effects of tobacco on human health. ... One week in and still nobody fined for smoking at public sites One week after smoking was banned in offices and public sites not one person has been fined for breaking the new rules. The law not being implemented is coming as no surprise. Nguyen Van Truong, vice head of the Hanoi Railway Station, said: “We ask passengers at the ticket booths or waiting areas to put out cigarettes. Some of them obey while some continue smoking”. Outside these areas, the station’s guards cannot ask people to stop smoking. The ban is announced via the station’s loudspeakers but has had little effect. Truong said the Hanoi Railway Station has not fined anyone because there is no mechanism to impose fines. “Our staffs don’t have the right,” Truong said. It is the same at other public sites like Giap Bat and My Dinh coach station and even in hospitals. ... Government ban fails to curb smoking in public HA NOI — The Government’s ban on smoking in public places took effect on January 1 but around the country, people can still be found smoking in parks, stations and hospitals. Eight of 10 interviewed smokers at Saint Paul Hospital in Ha Noi said they did not know about the ban while another two said they did not care. Between blowing smoke rings, Nguyen Van Long, 43, said: "I heard about the ban, but it’s cold now and I need a smoke." Others agreed with Long and kept smoking after being informed of the ban. Nguyen Van Quan, whose son was under treatment in the hospital’s Paediatric Department, exclaimed: "My son is in a terrible condition and I must smoke. If I can’t smoke here then where can I?" ... Public smoking ban starts soon In 10 days time the ban on smoking in public spaces, approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, will take effect, but many people still have no idea about the new regulation. Le Sang from Thanh Xuan District said that smoking was a habit that formed over many years, making it impossible to quit immediately. The ban cannot take effect if it does not allow people time to quit smoking, he added. Nguyen Van Duong, a motorbike-taxi driver at Ha Noi's Giap Bat Station, said he hadn't heard about the ban. However, he believed it would be ineffective because thousands of passengers passed through the station each day and inspectors couldn't punish everyone. "I have been a cigarette smoker for 20 years. Cigarette addicts like me find it difficult to give up, unless we have gags over our mouths," said Duong. Ministry of Health calls for smoking ban in public places VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health and the World Lung Foundation on December 18 launched a national campaign calling for a smoking ban in all public places.
This campaign includes two TV ads which will be broadcast in Vietnam for four weeks. Sandra Mullin, a representative from the World Lung Foundation, said that the images in the ads are very strong, which convey the massage that smoking and breathing cigarette smoke is fatal and especially dangerous for children.
The Hanoi Medical University in April 2009 carried out research in three provinces, Thai Nguyen, Thua Thien – Hue and Vinh Long, about the implementation of the ban of smoking in public sites like rail and bus stations, airports, hospitals, schools, theatres and restaurants. This ban was issued four years ago.
Officials from grassroots to central levels participated, along with 600 members of the public. This is the premise for the project “For a Vietnam without cigarette smoke”. ... No smoking rule enforced The third Asian Indoor Games (AIG), to be held in Viet Nam next Thursday, will be a non-smoking Games. The events' organising board and World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Viet Nam branch office signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the capital yesterday to make this AIG the third one to be non-smoking. VIETNAM: Anti-Smoking Drive Fails to Curb Male Tobacco Abuse In Vietnamese tobacco is called 'thouc la', which means 'medicinal leaves'. Given a reported 40,000 die each year from lung cancer, it is not the most apposite name. . . . Huong typifies the male-smoking population of Vietnam, considered one of the biggest in the world: 56 percent of the country's estimated 86 million population. The figure could be higher, said health officials who spoke with IPS. China, Malaysia and Laos all record higher figures, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "It's a huge burden to the health system," Dr Nguyen Tuan Lam of the Tobacco Free Initiative of WHO told IPS in a telephone interview. He believes the official number of lung cancer deaths is massively underreported, saying it could be closer to 70,000. Compare this figure with the incidence of traffic accidents, often called a "hidden epidemic" in the motorcycle-riding South-east Asian country, which accounted for a comparatively lower 12,000 deaths in 2008. Compared to men, there are extremely few female smokers in Vietnam. In fact, the communist nation has one of the lowest female smoking rates in the world at 2.1 percent of the population. "The attitude here is that only naughty girls smoke. It's not ladylike and it's not nice," said Lam. Since Vietnam ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in December 2004, it has banned all forms of advertising, increased taxes on cigarettes and last year added larger warning labels to packaging. In late August government announced that starting Jan. 1, 2010, smoking would be prohibited in public places Vietnam's Ha Long To Become Smoke-Free City QUANG NINH, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Quang Ninh Province's capital Ha Long in Vietnam will be turned into a smoke-free tourist city, so as to disseminate information on the harmful effects of smoking and second-hand smoke in the community, particularly parents with young children and anyone with asthma. The three-year project to turn Ha Long, a northern coastal, into a smoke-free atmosphere, began on Sept 26, and soon it will enforce the implementation of regulations on smoking ban in the public and work places, according to the Vietnam news agency's report on Monday. ... Vietnam's efforts in tobacco control praised Co-President of the Global Smoke-free Partnership, E. Ulysses Dorotheo, praised Vietnam’s efforts in tobacco control at a seminar held in Hanoi on September 15- 16. Dorotheo also expressed his fine impression about the warnings of smoking dangers on tobacco packaging in Vietnam, which are printed in large letters. Ly Ngoc Kinh, Head of the Treatment Department under the Health Ministry, said that the number of deaths from smoking-related diseases was estimated at about 30,000-40,000 a year in Vietnam. In addition, the money spent to buy tobacco and treat diseases related to smoking constitutes an economic burden on individuals, families, and the society as a whole. ... Smoking in public places to be banned HA NOI -- The country has taken a step towards making public places a healthier place with the approval by the Prime Minister of a stricter plan to ban and control smoking in public places by 2010. The Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with the Tobacco Control Programme of the Viet Nam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health, created the plan. Under Decision No1315/QD-TTg by the Prime Minister, regulations will be imposed to reduce the demand and supply of tobacco products consumed in the country with regulations coming into effect by 2010. The implementation plan will concentrate on raising taxes on imported tobacco products and increase the price of domestic cigarettes, as well as enforcing stricter controls on where tobacco products can be sold and to whom. ... Vietnam to ban smoking inside public places next year Smoking will be banned at indoor public places in 2010 as part of a national plan to reduce smoking. The cigarette ban will include classrooms, healthcare facilities, libraries, theaters, cultural centers and indoor workplaces, starting January 1. ... Me Linh, Hanoi cabs to ban smoking Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross goes green (and smokeless) Nguyen Thi Hue, the president of the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnamese Red Cross (VNRC), believes smokers should set an example - by not smoking outside in public. In effect, it's the opposite principle to the one that applies in the West, where the "smokers' huddle" outside big-city office buildings has become a much-discussed social phenomenon. But Red Cross volunteers quietly get the "do it in private" message across to prosperous Vietnamese smokers whenever they can. Madame Hue (as she's universally known) says that ideally nobody should smoke at all. But when it comes to cigarettes in Asia, and especially in a country where some hotels thoughtfully leave new packs in the rooms of arriving guests and nice clean ashtrays are a ubiquity in bars and restaurants, someone has to start somewhere. . . . It's one example of the VNRC having to broaden its horizons to take up new challenges, she told the International Federation in an interview at the chapter headquarters. ... Break the tobacco marketing net, WHO tells the youth Hanoi, 29 May, 2008 — The World Health Organization (WHO) today raised the alarm on the tobacco marketing net that targets children and youth in Vietnam. WHO called on the Government to strictly enforce Vietnam’s complete ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and the restriction on sponsorship, and alerted parents, teachers and children to the marketing ploys designed to hook youngsters into tobacco addiction. “The tobacco industry preys on young people’s vulnerability. They know that the young underestimate the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine and the tragic health consequences that will follow,” said Dr. Jean-Marc Olivé, WHO Representative in Vietnam. “Cigarettes and tobacco products today come in all kinds of flavours and scents. They are packaged in bright colours that look more like candy than a deadly substance,” he said.
The theme of World No Tobacco Day, "Tobacco-Free Youth", calls attention to the urgent need to strictly enforce Vietnam’s ban on advertising and promotion of cigarettes. “The tobacco industry falsely associated use of its products with desirable qualities such as glamour, energy and sex appeal as well as exciting activities and adventure,” Dr Olivé said. “Widespread tobacco advertising makes tobacco use look normal and makes it difficult for young people to believe that tobacco use will kill. “The industry has numerous ways of targeting youth and partial bans or a failure to enforce bans only allow companies to shift their vast resources from one promotional tactic to another,” he said. This is an alarming situation. Only strict enforcement of Vietnam’s complete ban on advertising and promotion can break the tobacco marketing net. This action, along with raising tobacco tax, banning the sale of individual cigarettes and restricting the sale of tobacco to licensed retailers only, will limit the access to cigarettes by young people. “On this World No Tobacco Day – I challenge all young people to say no to smoking. I appeal to you all to protect our youth from tobacco's harm and break the tobacco marketing net,” Dr Olivé said. Dr Olivé also congratulated the Hanoi School of Public Health for winning this year’s WHO World No Tobacco Day Award. The WHO award recognizes organizations for their actions to break the tobacco marketing net and protect youth from tobacco epidemics. The Hanoi School of Public Health won the award for its important evidence-based tobacco control research, its contribution in advancing tobacco control policy in the country, and in demonstrating how a smoke-free university can be achieved with the active participation of faculty and students. ... Vietnam promotes non-smoking environment Burke Fishburn, the World Health Organisation’s free-tobacco initiative coordinator, said more than 50% of population in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, is exposed to cigarette smoke. The WHO coordinator was addressing a conference on promoting non-smoking environment which took place in Thailand on December 3. The conference was held by the Thai Ministry of Public Health, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance and the Actions on Smoking and Health (ASH). Truong Thanh Can, deputy director of the Department for Propaganda and Training of the Vietnam Confederation of Labour, said a campaign for a non-smoking work place has been carried out for six months. ... Vietnam tells smokers to butt out In an effort to raise public awareness on the dangers of smoking, Vietnam has launched a National Non-Smoking Week. The Ministry of Health, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) organised a meeting in Hanoi, on May 25, to mark the event. A recent national survey showed that 56 percent of men and close to 1.8 percent of women in Vietnam are regular smokers and the country's smokers spent close to 8.2 trillion VND (roughly 513 million USD) each year on the habit. ... Vietnam bans smoking, selling cigarettes in public places The Vietnamese government has banned smoking and selling cigarettes in offices, production facilities, schools, hospitals, and on public transport, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Thursday. The ban has also been imposed on all forms of advertisement, trade promotion, and sponsorship by tobacco companies, as well as cigarette sales through vending machines, or over telephones and on the Internet. . . . The warning "Smoking will cause lung cancer" will be required to appear on every cigarette package as of next March. ... |