Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has seen certainachievements made in tobacco harm prevention and control but challenges continueto emerge, including the increasing trend of smoking e-cigarettes, Associate Professorand Dr Luong Ngoc Khue has said.

At a meeting with partners of the BloombergInitiative in Hanoi on January 19, Khue, who is also Vice Chairman of theNational Medical Council and Director of the Fund for Tobacco Harm Preventionand Control, highlighted encouraging outcomes after seven years of implementingthe law on prevention and control.

A decline has been recorded in smoking in publicplaces like schools, offices, and public transport; a behaviour subject to increasingobjections from the community. Smoking is now almost never seen at meetings,weddings, or funerals.

Many non-smokers have also recognised their rightto have their health protected and spoken out to remind others not to smoke in placeswhere it is banned, Khue said.

Pointing out new challenges, he cited the resultsof a 2020 survey on tobacco use in 34 cities and provinces as showing that therate of e-cigarette use among adults is increasing, from 0.2 percent in 2015 to0.7 percent last year, and was 1.2 percent among males in 2020, up from 0.4percent in 2015.

A student health survey conducted in 2019revealed that 2.6 percent of students aged between 13 and 17 use e-cigarettes.

Meanwhile, the expert added, tobacco manufacturersprovide insufficient or incorrect information about next-generation tobaccoproducts, including heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes, misleading users,especially young people, into thinking that these products are less harmfulthan normal cigarettes and help people quit.

Inspection and punishment of those committingviolations have been carried out relatively well in recent years but notfrequently enough due to a shortage of resources, Khue added.

At the meeting, he called upon internationalorganisations to continue supporting the Fund for Tobacco Harm Prevention andControl to ramp up measures to minimise tobacco harm in Vietnam, such as hikingtobacco taxes, boosting the management of tobacco retailing, increasingcommunications about related harm, promoting support for nicotine addictiontreatment, and stepping up the examination of compliance with the law ontobacco harm prevention and control.

Khue also expressed his appreciation of theassistance and contributions from Bloomberg Philanthropies, while sympathisingwith people in the US for what they have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bloomberg Initiative to reduce tobacco use,funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is financing efforts to eradicate andmonitor tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh,China, India, and Indonesia. It seeks to minimise the practice via coordinationwith partner organisations, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, theCDC Foundation, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease,and the World Health Organisation./.