Nine northern and central provinces on July 4 signed a joint commitment
to building smoke-free workplace in a bid to curb ill effects of
cigarette smoking.
They include northern Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Thai
Binh, Hung Yen, Ninh Binh and Hai Duong provinces, and central Thanh
Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.
Representatives from the provincial
Labour Federations made the pledge that looks to realise the Law on
Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harm, at a conference held by the
Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and the Ministry of Health in
Thanh Hoa province.
To concretise their commitments, the
localities plan to intensify communication campaigns to raise local
workforce’s awareness of tobacco harms.
According to the office
of the health ministry’s tobacco harm prevention programme, Vietnam is
one of 15 countries with the highest rate of cigarette smoking in the
world.
Up to 47.4 percent of Vietnamese men and 1.4 percent of women are smokers, equivalent to 15 million grown-ups.
Additionally, 33 million non-smokers in Vietnam are exposed to tobacco
smoke at home, while 5 million people are passively affected by the
smoke at their workplace.
Experts also pointed out a large
number of evils of smoking and being exposed to the smoke, naming risks
of suffering from life-threatening diseases, losing work capacity, and
dying young, among the few.-VNA