Determined to give priority to protecting public health, on June 18, 2012, the National Assembly passed the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, which took effect from May 1, 2013.
The Ministry of Health is the agency assigned by the National Assembly and the Government to coordinate with ministries, branches, socio-political organizations and provinces and cities to organize the prevention and control of tobacco harm.
Up to now, the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention has been implemented for 10 years. To assess the implementation of the Law, the results achieved, the difficulties and advantages in the process of implementing the Law, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with ministries, branches, provinces and cities to develop a report to evaluate and summarize 10 years of implementing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention.
Assessing the achievements of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms over the past 10 years, Dr. Angela Pratt, Chief Representative of the World Health Organization in Vietnam, said that Vietnam has reduced the rate of tobacco use among both adults and adolescents over the years. The rate of tobacco use among adolescents has been halved. These are very encouraging results.
Speaking to reporters from the Natural Resources and Environment Newspaper on the sidelines of the conference summarizing 10 years of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms on the morning of December 12 in Hanoi, Dr. Angela Pratt said that over the past 10 years, WHO has actively supported Vietnam in the work of preventing and controlling the harmful effects of tobacco.
Accordingly, WHO has accompanied Vietnam in its efforts to prevent and combat the harmful effects of tobacco in many different ways, firstly by providing policy advice, technical support, coordinating with the Ministry of Health and National Assembly Committees in the process of developing the 2012 Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, supporting the Government in the implementation process and summarizing and reviewing the effectiveness of implementation.
At the same time, WHO has recommended that policy-making agencies and communities organize communication activities to raise awareness of the serious harms of tobacco to health; coordinate with press agencies and social networks to widely disseminate.
In addition, WHO also advocates for Vietnam to move towards the strongest measures, building new laws, regulations, policies, strategies, and action programs along with measures to ensure effective implementation.
“We are well aware of the importance of WHO's advocacy work and voice in protecting Vietnamese people, especially the young generation, from the harmful effects of tobacco, whether traditional or new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products,” the WHO representative added.
According to this representative, WHO has issued warnings as well as strong solutions to prevent e-cigarettes among Vietnamese youth. She said that this is a very big and alarming issue recently for both Vietnam and WHO. WHO is making efforts to prevent the use of these new tobacco products and especially wants to protect the younger generation.
“We are at a critical juncture where e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products pose a risk of creating a whole new generation of nicotine-addicted youth in Vietnam,” said Dr. Angela Pratt. “WHO hopes that the Vietnamese National Assembly will soon issue a complete ban on these new types of tobacco products, along with solutions to institutionalize that provision in the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control, which will be amended in the near future.”
She stressed the key message: “New forms of tobacco are not safe, are not risk-free and should be banned completely.”
Regarding cooperation with Vietnam in preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco in the coming time, the WHO representative in Vietnam affirmed that WHO remains steadfastly committed to working closely with the Government to protect the people and the Vietnamese economy from the harmful effects of tobacco in the next 10 years and beyond, while helping to achieve the country's goals for a healthier and safer Vietnam.
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