HCM City (VNA) – More than 45 percent ofVietnamese males smoke tobacco, as heard at an anti-smoking conference held inHo Chi Minh City on April 19.

The Ministry of Information and Communications incollaboration with Health Ministry’s fund for tobacco harm prevention andcontrol co-organised the event.

At the conference, Pham Thi Hoang Anh, Country Director forVietnam at the HealthBridge Foundation of Canada, said the number of local smokerssaw a significant amount of poor people, adding that needy families spend up to5.3 percent of their incomes on tobacco.

Vietnamese often begin smoking at young ages, she said,citing a 2015 statistic that showed about 56 percent of Vietnamese smokedbefore 20 years old.

According to the doctor, tobacco smoke consists of 7,000harmful substances, including 69 causing cancer. It is estimated that 40,000Vietnamese die every year due to smoking, and the number could increase to70,000 in the future.

However, in Vietnam, in 2005-2016, when income per capitagrew by 4.7 times, tobacco prices increased by only 2.2 times.

Nguyen Tuan Lam, from the World Health Organisation inVietnam, said the low prices were a result of the country’s low tax on tobacco.The tax per retail price in Vietnam is about 35.6 percent, compared to theworld average rate of 56 percent. The Vietnamese rate is also way below that ofThailand (73 percent), Singapore (66 percent), and the Philippines (63percent).

As calculated, if tobacco tax goes up by 10 percent, tobaccoconsumption will go down by 4 percent in developed countries and 5 percent indeveloping ones, noted Lam.

Phan Thi Hai, deputy head of the fund for tobacco harmprevention and control, suggested reducing the rate of tobacco consumption in2020, the Government need to increase the tax to at least 2,000 VND per tobaccopack in January 1 2020.
The Government should also adjust the tax based on consumerprice indexes of following years to ensure tobacco prices are not well belowincome increases, Hai said.-VNA