Vu Dang Minh, Chief of the Office and Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Tobacco Control of the Ministry of Home Affairs speaks at the . (Photo: https://www.moha.gov.vn/)Hanoi (VNA) – A meeting in response to the World No Tobacco
Day (May 31) themed “Tobacco: A Threat to Our Environment”, and the National No Tobacco Week (from May 25 – May 31) was jointly held by the Ministry of Home
Affairs and the Ministry of Health (MoH)
in Hanoi on May 31.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vu
Dang Minh, Chief of the Office and Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Tobacco Control of the Ministry
of Home Affairs, underlined the message of the World Health Organisation (WHO)
in the theme of this year’s World
No Tobacco Day, saying that it aims to call on countries to seek
ways to raise of the harmful effects of tobacco use on the
environment.
He said that the
Ministry of Home Affairs has taken a series of practical solutions toward a living environment without smokes.
Minh suggested agencies
and units step up communications about the s of using tobacco
products, and provisions of the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control, especially
contents directly related to the responsibility of leaders and smokers, and places
where smoking is prohibited.
According to the WHO, one
of the main causes behind non-communicable diseases such cancer, high blood pressure,
stroke, and heart disease, is smoking, said Associate
Professor Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department
of Medical Examination and Treatment, and Director of the Vietnam Tobacco
Control Fund (VNTCF).
He emphasised the need
for everyone to join hands in the fight against smoking, for the health of the whole community,
and for a greener and cleaner environment.
According to the national tobacco harm prevention and control programme, 40,000
Vietnamese people die each year from tobacco-related diseases. It is estimated that in 2021, the number of Vietnamese
people dying from tobacco use exceeded the total number of deaths from HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, traffic accidents and suicide./.
Source: VietnamPlus
