In a special Q&A series this month, we are highlighting women tobacco control leaders.
In Vietnam, almost 16 million adults currently smoke tobacco. While the vast majority of smokers are men, more women die from tobacco-related disease (9.5%) than smoke (1.1%), which suggests that women suffer disproportionately from exposure to secondhand smoke.
Since 2015, Vital Strategies has been working with the Vietnam Women’s Union to help protect women and children throughout Vietnam from secondhand smoke exposure. We sat down with Madame Tran Thi Huong, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women’s Union, to learn about the organization’s work to engage women in creating smoke-free spaces.
Packed into the 30-second television spot were key messages that the Women’s Union and Vital Strategies wanted to bring to the attention of the community: “Protect yourself and your loved ones from secondhand smoke exposure” and for the attention of smokers: “Stop smoking to protect your loved ones.” Ms. Huong’s story was so successful in resonating with people that in 2020, we partnered with Vital Strategies to tell the personal story of another woman whose health and life were gravely affected by tobacco, Ms. Tinh, a non-smoker who developed lung cancer after experiencing secondhand smoke exposure from cigarette and pipe smoking. Ms. Tinh’s husband and father had both died from tobacco-related illness.
We have also enlisted the very popular Miss Universe, H’Hen Niê, to participate in promoting Ms. Tinh’s story, and supporting her call for women to raise a strong collective voice to the community: “it’s time to stop smoking now to protect yourself and your beloved ones!” The campaign is scheduled to commence next month.
Vital Strategies also supported the Women’s Union to raise and represent the voices of women and children on a campaign to increase the tax on tobacco to reduce smoking. They supported us in building our role and reputation on policy advocacy among civil society organizations and development organizations working to help ensure the health of the community—namely women and children.
Through our Women’s Union online platform, all the materials including leaflets, question-and-answer books on tobacco harms, information on the tobacco tax and the law on tobacco control, and communication products on tobacco control were successfully disseminated to all cities and provinces in Vietnam to distribute to grassroots members. At the same time, documents, media clips and short television spots were posted to the Women’s Union online platforms through e-gate, fan page, a zalo group of 63 provinces and cities and through websites of individual provinces. This reached millions of women across the country to mobilize support for tobacco control.
What’s on the horizon for tobacco control strategies for the Vietnam Women’s Union in 2021 and beyond?
In 2021 and beyond, the Vietnam Women’s Union hopes to continue to collaborate with Vital Strategies to develop and promote behavior change communication not only on tobacco control but also on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, such as lung disease, cancers and diabetes. We would like to extend our efforts on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases to all 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam.
We hope to organize training sessions so that women officials and communicators in provinces and cities can update information and knowledge to continue to help promote effective communication not only on tobacco control but also on health care and disease prevention in many forms.
About Vital Strategies’ work in tobacco control:
Vital Strategies works globally and in more than 40 countries to support the adoption of proven policies to reduce tobacco use. Our global team of experts use policy, advocacy and strategic communication to help governments adopt lifesaving, public health “best buys” like comprehensive smoke-free laws and high tobacco taxes.
Our evidence-based public education campaigns have been seen by more than 2 billion people around the world. We partner with American Cancer Society to produce The Tobacco Atlas, (sixth ed.) the most comprehensive report on the evolving global tobacco epidemic, and support production of WHO’s MPOWER reports.
Vital Strategies is a main partner in the $1 billion Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use and a partner in the global tobacco industry watchdog, Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP).