New Survey Shows 77 Percent of Vietnamese Oppose Secondhand Smoke in Public Places after Seeing Ad Campaign

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

(New York, NY and Hanoi, Vietnam) - – Vietnam's Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Lung Foundation (WLF) announced today the results of a national mass media campaign to build support for the ban on smoking in indoor workplaces, indoor public places, and public transport. A post-campaign evaluation survey showed that 77% of Vietnamese people who saw the ads oppose being exposed to secondhand smoke in public places (Table 1). This figure is 14% higher than that of people who did not see the mass media campaign (63%).

This significant difference suggests that more people support the smoking ban if they have a better understanding about the health harms of smoking and secondhand smoke. According to the survey, more than 80% of smokers said that seeing the ads made them concerned about their own health and the effect of tobacco smoke on their families' health. Three out of four smokers who saw the ads said that they were more likely to quit (Table 4).

Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of Medical Services Administration and Standing Office for the Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health (VINACOSH) said: "In Vietnam, 50% of male adults smoke, which is the equivalent of 17 million smokers. It is obvious that the number of smokers is lower than that of non-smokers. We should not let more than 60 million people be exposed to secondhand smoke. We are very pleased to see raised awareness of the public towards tobacco harms, and this support will be the basis for more comprehensive and stronger tobacco policies in Vietnam, to protect current and future generations from tobacco harms."

"This campaign used strong imagery to communicate that tobacco smoke harms those who inhale it directly and those who are exposed to it secondhand, especially children," said Sandra Mullin, WLF Senior Vice President of Communications. "We congratulate the Ministry of Health and the Vietnamese government for running this campaign, and we look forward to future efforts to reduce the tobacco epidemic in Vietnam."

The "Cigarettes are Eating You Alive" campaign was developed jointly by the Ministry of Health, WLF, WHO, and other Vietnamese partners. The campaign aired nationally for five weeks, from December 2009 to January 2010. The campaign messages were spread through television, posters and the press. After the TV campaign, more than 5,000 posters were posted in provinces across the country, including hospitals, offices, and education and transportation facilities. The ads were shown 245 times across Vietnam, and 70% of people interviewed recalled seeing the campaign.

The campaign consisted of two TV commercials broadcasted across national and provincial stations. The first ad showed in graphic detail how cigarettes damage the lungs, heart and brain by causing stroke. A second ad showed that children exposed to cigarette smoke suffer more respiratory infections, ear infections, asthma—even Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

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Methodology
The impact of the campaign was assessed with pre- and post-campaign surveys conducted by Axisco Research, a marketing research agency based in Ho Chi Minh City. Respondents were asked about their recall of the campaign's messages, knowledge of smoking and secondhand smoke harms, attitudes towards smoking and smoke-free policies, and smoking-related behaviors. Both surveys were conducted using the in-person household survey method, and they were designed to create representative samples of adults between the ages of 15-55 years, including both smokers and non-smokers (baseline = 2365; post-campaign = 2029). Both surveys were conducted in five cities that were selected purposively to be representative of the country; these cities were Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Thai Binh, and Dong Thap. The baseline survey was conducted prior to campaign in October-November 2009. The post-campaign survey was conducted after the conclusion of the campaign in February 2010.

Appendix
Download English Appendix | Download Vietnamese Appendix
Table 1 – More People Agree People Should Not Be Exposed to Cigarette Smoke in Public Places
Table 2 – Smokers More Concerned about Their Health
Table 3 – Smokers More Concerned about Their Family's Health
Table 4 – Smokers More Likely to Quit

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About World Lung Foundation

World Lung Foundation was established in response to the global epidemic of lung disease, which kills 10 million people each year. The organization improves global lung health by improving local capacity to conduct research, develop public policy and deliver public health education. The organization's areas of emphasis are tobacco control, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, asthma, and child lung health. For more information, please visit worldlungfoundation.org

For more information, please contact: Jorge Alday, World Lung Foundation, at +1 (212) 639 0070 or jalday@worldlungfoundation.org.

About the Standing Office for Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health

VINACOSH was established as per Decision No 467/QD-TTg dated April 17, 2001 by the Prime Minister. Its Standing Office is located in the Ministry of Health. Objectives of the program include: to reduce demand for tobacco; to reduce the supply of tobacco products with the aim of reducing morbidity and mortality; to ensure the right of non-smokers to be able to live in smoke-free environments; and to reduce losses caused by smoking for individuals, families and society. For more information, please visit www.vinacosh.gov.vn.

About World Health Organization

WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. WHO has cooperated closely with the Vietnamese government over the past 50 years and plays an important role in tobacco control. WHO has been supporting the Vietnamese government and relevant organizations in developing and implementing effective tobacco control measures; in producing media resources; in guidance and capacity building; in supporting the monitoring of tobacco use; and in evaluating tobacco-related health and economic burden. For more information, please go to www.who.int/tobacco/en/ .