Hanoi (VNA) - Stronger action is needed to reduce tobacco use in Vietnam and protect people's health and lives, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam Angela Pratt has stressed.

The WHO representative made the call at a workshop on August 13 which looked at ways to provide information on the harmful effects of tobacco and the role of tax policy in preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco for central-level press agencies’ reporters and editors. She said that although Vietnam has made some progress in combating the harmful effects of tobacco over the past decade, with current trends, it is unlikely to achieve the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control’s target of reducing the smoking rate among men to below 36% by 2030.

She cited the General Statistics Office’s data as saying that tobacco consumption in Vietnam is increasing again, with total production up by more than 10% in the 2022-2023 period.

According to Pratt, one of the biggest challenges is the fact that cigarettes are very cheap in Vietnam, and they are becoming more affordable because their prices remain the same while incomes increase.

This needs to change, she stressed, adding that raising tobacco taxes is the fastest and most effective way to achieve this goal.

With the discussion and approval of the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended) in the coming time, the WHO believes that Vietnam has a special opportunity to achieve higher goals and more benefits for people's health, she said.

Tran Thi Nhi Thuy, Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Information and Communications, reported that Vietnam is still one of the 15 countries with the largest number of adult male smokers in the world and ranks third in the ASEAN region.

According to the law and ordinance building programme in 2025, the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended) will be submitted to the National Assembly for discussion at its eighth plenary session in October 2024 and approved at the ninth one in May 2025, Thuy stated./.