With 15 million smokers, Vietnam has one of the largest per-capita smoking rates in the world, and forecasts 70,000 deaths per year by 2030.

Tobacco prevalent despite public awareness

Dr. Dang Huy Quoc Thinh, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Tumour Hospital points to these figures in order to underline a growing problem.

He added that four million Vietnamese people regularly use pipe tobacco (or thuoc lao).

At present, 40,000 Vietnamese people die of smoking annually, a figure four times higher than the amount of people who die of traffic accidents, he said.

Cigarette smoke is one of the prime causes of chronic pulmonary embolism, lung cancer, and coronary thrombosis. Medical treatment of these serious diseases costs the country trillions of VND per year.

Dr. Thinh thinks that the situation calls for nationwide ban for smoking in public places.

Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of a medical service management department under the Ministry of Health, said that 95.7% of citizens are aware of negative effects of smoking, and 87% of people know about the dangers of second-hand smoke.

“However there is a gap between awareness and behaviour, as the number of smokers continues to increase,” he said.

Cigarette smoke has more than 7,000 toxins, 70 of which are known carcinogens; the toxins attack the nervous and cardiovascular systems, cause cancer and even negatively affect memory, said Thinh.

He added, “Although Ho Chi Minh City has had a ban on smoking in public places for more than a year, the regulation has not been sufficient.”