40,000 Vietnamese people die each year due to tobacco

Vietnam has about 16 million people, of which nearly 50% are adult males, who smoke.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang, Project Manager, Institute of Medical and Sociological Research, said at the conference summarizing the third phase of the smoking cessation support project held on September 27, tTobacco is the leading cause of disease and death worldwide. It killed 100 million people in the 20th century and about a billion in the 21st century; it is considered a global pandemic.

In Vietnam, it is estimated that each year about 40,000 people die from diseases related to cigarette smoke, ranking second in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of adult smokers.

Quitting smoking is one of the effective measures to reduce the number of deaths caused by this toxic consumer product.Many men want to quit smoking but few succeed.

Many men want to quit smoking but very few succeed. Illustration: HP.

A model of supporting smoking cessation treatment at grassroots health facilities has been implemented and is expected to be replicated at health facilities nationwide.The project was implemented by the Institute of Medical - Sociology Research, the Office of Tobacco Harm Prevention Program (Ministry of Health), and New York University in Pho Yen town and Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province for 5 years from 2014 to 2018. This is the first project in Vietnam in the field of supporting smoking cessation at the grassroots health care level.

In the third phase, health workers from eight commune health stations in Dai Tu district (Thai Nguyen) were trained and equipped with knowledge on counseling and support for smoking cessation. Village health workers were also trained to become counselors, providing counseling and support for smokers to quit smoking.

After one year of implementation, of the more than 42,000 patients who came to see a doctor for smoking-related medical examinations, nearly 2,700 were advised to quit smoking and more than 1,300 were counseled to quit smoking. Initial evaluation results showed that 38% of smokers had quit smoking six months after being counseled.

Quitting cigarettes, tobacco or tobacco products is not easy but not impossible. In the first 2 to 4 weeks, patients quitting smoking must experience strong cravings and are affected by withdrawal symptoms when the body lacks nicotine. Some unpleasant feelings occur to them such as fatigue, dizziness, insomnia or weight gain. However, after a few weeks, these symptoms will gradually decrease and disappear.

People who are quitting smoking are faced with triggers that are brought on by emotions, situations, or daily activities. These triggers make them crave cigarettes and make it easier for them to quit, such as smoking in the morning with coffee, smoking during breaks at work, or after meals. If you continue to be in these situations, the triggers will make you crave cigarettes.

According to VNE