Strong policy is needed to prevent the use of e-cigarettes

At the technical meeting on tobacco harm control recently held by the Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Fund (Ministry of Health), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Administration – Director of the Fund Tobacco is one of the main causes of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, etc.

Currently, the rate of cancer and stroke patients caused by the harmful effects of tobacco is a burden on the whole society. Therefore, the prevention of tobacco harms to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by the use of tobacco products remains a top urgent task.

According to Assoc. Khue, besides the positive results on the prevention of tobacco harms, the prevention of tobacco harms is facing many challenges. epidemic scene COVID-19 carry out many activities aimed at weakening the formulation and implementation of tobacco harm prevention policies; strengthen marketing of new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated cigarettes among young people; take action to delay the tobacco tax increase.

According to experts, without strong policies to prevent the use of e-cigarettes and new types of cigarettes on the market, the rate of use of new and e-cigarette products will mortality will increase in the near future.

Currently, the rate of e-cigarettes in the 13-17 age group is 2.6%. The rate of e-cigarette smoking in the 15-24 age group is 7.3%.

During the meeting, domestic and international experts and partners together discussed the development of a National Strategy on Tobacco Control in the New Situation, focusing on solutions: improving the quality of work. counseling, treatment of smoking cessation, tobacco tax, prevention of new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, heated cigarettes… in the context of the growing number of multinational tobacco corporations. sophisticated tricks to turn young people around the world, including Vietnamese youth, into drug addicts.

The meeting also discussed solutions to step up the implementation of regulations on places where smoking is prohibited, advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans, and the implementation of Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, etc.