E-cigarette use among students aged 13-17 is increasing

On May 21, the Ministry of Health sent a document to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities regarding the organization of activities in response to World No Tobacco Day on May 31, National No Tobacco Week from May 25-31, and strengthening the enforcement of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms.

Protecting children from the effects of the tobacco industry

According to Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan, World No Tobacco Day on May 31 was launched by the World Health Organization with the theme "Protecting children from the impacts of the tobacco industry".

The World Health Organization emphasizes that World No Tobacco Day 2024 is a forum for young people around the world to demand that the tobacco industry stop targeting children and adolescents with harmful products, and to call on governments to implement strong anti-tobacco measures and protect children from the impact of tobacco advertising, including marketing on social media and digital platforms.

According to the World Health Organization, there is a clear link between the increase in the use of tobacco products among young people and the outreach to young people through tobacco advertising, promotion and marketing, especially on digital platforms.

Globally, an estimated 19 million adolescents aged 13–15 years (13 million boys and 6 million girls) currently smoke tobacco, of which approximately 5 million adolescent smokers live in the Southeast Asia region.

Surveys in most countries show that the proportion of children aged 13–15 using tobacco products, especially new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, is high.

In Vietnam, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said the report summarizing 10 years of implementing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control showed that thanks to many efforts in tobacco harm prevention, the rate of regular cigarette use among adult men decreased by an average of 0.5% per year from 47.4% in 2010 to 38.9% in 2023.

The smoking rate among adolescents has decreased, in which, in the 13-15 age group, it has decreased from 2.5% in 2014 to 1.9% in 2022. The rate of exposure to second-hand smoke has also decreased significantly in households, public places and workplaces. These are very encouraging results in the work of preventing the harmful effects of tobacco.

However, according to the Ministry of Health, these achievements are at risk of being undermined by the rapid increase in the use of products called e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, especially among young people. The rate of e-cigarette use among students in the 13-17 age group increased from 2.6% in 2019 to 8.1% in 2023. Among the 13-15 age group, the rate has more than doubled from 3.5% in 2022 to 8% in 2023.

Strengthening management of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products

To continue to strengthen the implementation of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control and the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention, the Ministry of Health requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to coordinate and direct the organization of activities to strengthen the implementation of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control and the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control; respond to World No Tobacco Day on May 31, National No Tobacco Week from May 25-31, specifically:

Organize the implementation of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and the Prime Minister's National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention to 2030 through the development and implementation of the Provincial People's Committee's Plan on implementing the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention to 2030; include the target of reducing tobacco use rate in the local socio-economic development targets in each period; integrate tobacco harm prevention activities into other local strategies, planning, plans, programs and projects;

Provinces and cities need to strengthen the Steering Committee for the Tobacco Harm Prevention Program; assign specific responsibilities to members of the Steering Committee; issue regulations on functions, tasks, and coordination mechanisms between departments, branches, and mass organizations to ensure effective implementation of tobacco harm prevention work;

Continue to direct departments, branches, agencies, and units to include tobacco harm prevention in their annual work plans, include regulations prohibiting smoking in the workplace in the internal regulations of agencies and units; post no-smoking signs at locations where smoking is prohibited according to the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention;

Promote the role of the network of collaborators on tobacco harm prevention in the community in mobilizing and guiding people to strictly comply with legal regulations and actively participate in activities to prevent and combat the harmful effects of tobacco.

Provinces and cities need to step up inspection, examination and handling of violations of tobacco harm prevention; organize inter-sectoral inspections and examinations on tobacco harm prevention according to decentralization; train and coach to improve the capacity of inspection, examination and handling forces for violations of the law on tobacco harm prevention.