Vietnam: Hanoi to Forbid Smoking in Vehicles, Aircraft and Trams

Source from:  Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) (vn)  05/08/2013

Hanoi has just promulgated Plan 70, on implementing the National Strategy for Tobacco Harm Prevention toward 2020 in Hanoi.

Under the plan, the city will ban smoking indoors and within the campus of medical facilities, educational facilities, facilities caring for and providing entertainment for only children, and facilities or areas at high risk of fire and explosion.

Accordingly, Hanoi totally bans smoking indoors in workplaces, colleges, universities, institutions, vehicles, aircraft and trams.

Isolated areas of airports, bars, karaoke clubs, dance halls, hotels and tourist accommodation facilities, and public transport by ship and train are allowed to have a place reserved for smokers. However, it must be a separate room and have a separate ventilation system from non-smoking areas, ashtrays, warning signs and equipment for fire preventing and fighting.

According to a report of the Legal Department under the Ministry of Health, the rate of tobacco use in Vietnam is high, around 15.3 million people; and nearly 60% of the population is exposed to cigarette smoke. Every year, about 40,000 people in Vietnam die of tobacco-related diseases.

The target of the plan is to reduce the need to use, and control to gradually reduce the supply, of tobacco products sold in Vietnam, in order to reduce cases of illness and death caused by tobacco use.

Earlier, on January 25, 2013, the Prime Minister approved the National Strategy for Tobacco Harm Prevention toward 2020. The strategy strives to reduce the rate of tobacco use among youth (15 - 24 years) from 26% in 2011 to 18% in 2020; among males from 47.4% in 2011 to 39% in 2020; and among females to 1.4% by 2020.