Vietnam is ranked among 15 countries globally with the largest numbers of adult male smokers mainly due to easy access to cigarettes and the prevalence of e-cigarettes.
Luong Ngoc Khue, Head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Service Administration said on Wednesday that the current smoking among Vietnamese men has declined to 42.3 per cent from 45.3 per cent in 2015.
Ngoc Khue said the male smoking rate remained below the target of 39 per cent set out in the National Strategy on Tobacco Control.
He said:“Vietnam has managed to reduce the number of smokers by 0.8 per cent in 2022 from 2015, thus preventing 280,000 premature deaths from diseases related to tobacco use.
“It also saved about 1.277 trillion Vietnamese dong (54.4 million U.S. dollars) each year between 2015 and 2020,’’ according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).”
But Vietnam is still ranked third among Southeast Asian countries with the highest smoking rates, only after Indonesia and the Philippines, according to the Health Ministry.
Health officials cited low cost as a major reason behind smoking, saying that Vietnam’s tobacco tax is among the lowest in Southeast Asia, only higher than Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The Vietnamese government is considering an increase in excise rates on tobacco products to boost cigarette prices in efforts to reduce the public consumption of cigarettes.
Cigarette tax rate in Vietnam is 35.6 per cent of retail prices compared to the world average of 56 per cent and the WHO recommendation of 70 per cent.
WHO representative, Angela Pratt suggested that higher taxes should be the quickest and most efficient solution to the problem.
Vietnam is now faced with additional challenges in its fight against smoking as the prevalence of e-cigarette use among Vietnamese teens has increased in recent years.
Among teens aged 13 to 15, 3.5 per cent were reported to use e-cigarettes in 2022, up from 2.6 per cent in 2019, according to a report by the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Education and Training.
The authorities have also reported about seven in 100 people aged between 15 and 24 use e-cigarettes.
Nguyen Thi An, head of the Vietnam office of HealthBridge Canada said tobacco is harmful to public health, especially children.
She called on the government to impose a ban on all new-generation tobacco products including e-cigarettes while promoting public awareness of tobacco harm and protecting children against second-hand smoking.
