Passive Smoking Kills 6,000 Vietnamese People Each Year: WHO

Cigarette smoking is forecast to claim lives of nearly 40,000 Vietnamese people annually while around 6,000 others die from passive smoking every year, said WHO Representative in Vietnam Kidong Park. Mr. Park gave the information at the launching ceremony of the “no smoking” campaign, which were jointly initiated by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and WHO last weekend and aimed to encourage restaurants and hotels to build up a smoke-free environment in Hanoi. In Vietnam, 15 million adults smoke while 75 million people suffer from passive smoking, the WHO official added, appealing to restaurant and hotel owners to place “no smoking” signs at visible areas. He also suggested that inspections from law enforcement units be conducted more frequently to achieve better compliance. At the event, some 200 restaurants and hotels in Hanoi have responded to the campaign with a commitment to strictly observe the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms. (VietnamNews, suckhoedoisong.vn, nhandan.com.vn, baodautu.vn)