Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Medical Service Administration, cited statistics as showing that tobacco use kills about 8 million people around the world each year, including some 1 million as the result of non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that the world loses about 1.4 trillion USD to tobacco use annually.

Smoking is also a cause of increased deforestation and environmental pollution, he said, elaborating that about 5% of the global forest area is destroyed for tobacco farming and wood from 18 billion trees is needed for tobacco drying each year. Smoking also releases 3,000 - 6,000 tonnes of formaldehyde, 12,000 - 47,000 tonnes of nicotine, and 300 - 600 million kilogrammes of toxic waste from cigarette filters every year.

Over the past years, Vietnam has recorded encouraging results in tobacco harm prevention and control. The male smoking rate has fallen to 42.3% from 45.3% in 2015. The country has prevented 280,000 premature deaths from diseases related to tobacco use. According to WHO estimates, about 1.277 trillion VND (54.4 million USD) in expenses was saved annually during 2015 - 2020 thanks to the decreased rate of diseases linked with tobacco use.

However, Khue added, Vietnam is still one of the 15 countries with the highest smoking rates among male adults. The decline in the tobacco use rate has yet to reach the target set in the strategy for tobacco harm prevention and control.

He blamed that fact on the low tobacco tax and prices, which have facilitated the youth and poor people’s access to tobacco. The emergence of new and diverse e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products has attracted even more people, especially the young, to tobacco use.

Nguyen Thi An, Director of HealthBridge Canada Vietnam, underlined tobacco harms to public health, especially children. She also pointed out that people in the country spent 49 trillion VND on buying tobacco in 2020, while treatment costs and expenses from the loss of working capacity due to illnesses and premature deaths from five of the 25 groups of smoking-caused diseases stood at 24 trillion VND.

She recommended Vietnam enhance enforcing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control; step up inspection and examination to strictly deal with violations in tobacco use, advertising, promotion, sponsorship, and trading; raise the special consumption tax on tobacco; and increase prices.

The Government should also ban the circulation of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products as recommended by the Health Ministry and WHO while boosting communications to promote public awareness of tobacco harm and child protection in this regard, An added./. VNA