A meting was held in Hanoi on May 26 in response to the World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and the National No Tobacco Week (May 25-31) following the theme “tobacco and lung diseases”.

Non-communicable diseases contribute to 73 percent of all deaths nationwide.
Tobacco use is one of the major causes.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien cited the fact that 96.8 percent of lung cancer patients in Vietnam smoke. 

Non-communicable diseases contribute to 73 percent of all deaths nationwide, he said, adding that tobacco use is one of the major causes.

Passive smoking is also the cause of lung diseases in children, making them suffer from health problems in adulthood, he said.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the health ministry’s department of medical examination and treatment and director of the tobacco control fund, said 40 cities and provinces nationwide held meetings in response to the National No Tobacco Week.

Smoking bans have been instituted in 1,560 State administrative agencies, 10,000 schools, 4,442 factories, and 508 hospitals.

Nearly 70 percent of trade unions at the grassroots level say no to smoking at the working environment while 195,000 workers gave up smoking.