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It is an honour to be here on behalf of the WHO Representative Dr Angela Pratt, who unfortunately cannot join us today
Let me begin by thanking Bach Mai Hospital and the Viet Nam Tobacco Control Fund at the Ministry of Health for hosting this important event ahead of Viet Nam National No Tobacco Week, from the 25th to the 31st of May, and World No Tobacco Day on the 31st of May.
Earlier this year, General Secretary To Lam recommended focusing on preventing disease, improving health and prolonging life. And, he said the basic elements of a healthy culture include saying “no” to tobacco and other harmful substances.
I don’t need to persuade this audience that smoking tobacco and using e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are bad for health and the economy.
Evidence from around the world shows that the most effective and cost-effective intervention to reduce smoking is using tax to increase prices.
This is why WHO is strongly urging lawmakers to be ambitious in reforming tobacco tax when they are given this historic opportunity very soon.
Higher tax – and therefore higher prices - would encourage smokers to quit and discourage young people from starting.
Tobacco tax is like a vaccine against the health harms of tobacco for young people – by stopping them from starting smoking, we are helping to protect them from the risks of tobacco use for life.
The tax reform would achieve a ‘win-win’ of reducing tobacco consumption and therefore the health impacts of tobacco use, and generate revenue for key government priorities.
But the only people who can actually quit are smokers themselves.
This is why today’s topic is so important.
Counselling – and medication – can more than double a tobacco user's chance of successfully quitting.
There is evidence that health workers have the greatest potential of any group in society to support people to quit smoking.
As health professionals, your voices are extremely powerful – your words can truly make the difference to support cessation.
Brief advice from health professionals can increase quitting success rates by up to 30%, while intensive advice increases the chance of quitting by 84%.
Among smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco, most want to quit.
But not everyone is aware of the dangers.
The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day is “Unmasking the Appeal: Exposing Industry Tactics on Tobacco and Nicotine Products.”
The theme highlights the industry’s manipulative tactics – including to target young people – and hide the dangers of their highly addictive products.
We have seen this in Viet Nam, especially for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, with flavours like watermelon, raspberry slush and lemon tart that mask the harshness of nicotine, and colourful packaging that attract youth.
So, WHO very warmly welcomed the National Assembly’s comprehensive ban on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in November last year.
In fact, the Secretary General of WHO, Dr Tedros, congratulated Viet Nam on this tremendous news in his welcome address at the opening of the World Health Assembly on Monday in Switzerland.
Now, of course, we need to follow up the ban by enforcing it. And we need to support users of all kinds of nicotine and tobacco products to quit.
Funding tobacco cessation support is a sound investment that saves lives, and fosters a healthier population and economy. Every dollar invested in services like brief advice, quit lines, digital quit tools, nicotine replacement therapy and medication yields a return on investment of more than 7 dollars.
WHO is honoured to support this work, such as through capacity building and training packages, and technical support for the development of toll-free or SMS quit lines. In closing, I would like to wish you all a joyful, active, and of course, smoke-free, World No Tobacco Day.
Xin cảm ơn!