WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation:
Report on the Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation: Third Report of a WHO Study Group
March 23rd, 2010:
Tax increase an optimum tobacco control measure
First published: March 13, 2010
Source: Thanh Nien News
The country’s population has been increasing at 1.5 percent per year and a large proportion of the population will belong to the highly smoking-susceptible age group of between 25 and 55 in the next 15 years, according to the World Health Organization’s Vietnam Country Office (WHO Vietnam).
“Nearly half of Vietnamese men smoke and the rate is even higher, at 65 percent, among men between 25-45 years old,” said Nguyen Tuan Lam, National Professional Officer of WHO Vietnam’s Tobacco Free Initiative.
Around 40,000 people in Vietnam die every year to tobacco-related diseases and the low price of cigarettes and water-pipe was among the causes of the high smoking rate among men, he said.
“The most effective measure to reduce smoking in Vietnam is increasing tobacco prices through taxation,” he said.