New law on prevention and control of alcohol related harms in Vietnam

Abstract

Alcohol use in Vietnam is currently at a high level and has dramatically increased over the years, demonstrated by 3 indicators: alcohol per capita consumption level, prevalence of last-month drinkers, and prevalence of heavy episodic drinking (HED). The annual consumption level per capita of pure alcohol by adults (age 15 and older for both genders) has increased from 3.8 litres in 2004 to 4.7 litres in 2010, and further to 8.3 litres in 2016. It means that every Vietnamese adult drank about 467 bottles of beer per year in 2016. It was much higher than global average of 6.4 litres. Other countries in the Western Pacific Region consumed much less than Vietnam-Mongolia 7.4 litres, China 7.2 litres, Cambodia 6.7 litres, the Philippines 6.6 litres and Singapore 2 litres. World Health Organization (WHO) also forecasts that this consumption level will further increase to 9.9 litres by 2020 and 11.4 litres by 2025 in the absence of effective interventions to control the harmful use of alcohol. 1 Prevalence of last-month drinkers has increased from 69.6% in 2010 to 80.3% in 2015 for men between the ages of 25 and 64, and from 5.6% to 11.2% from women in the same age bracket. Prevalence of HED among Vietnamese adult male has increased from 25.1% in 2010 to 44.2% in 2015. 2 In addition, alcohol consumption in Vietnamese adolescents is at an alarming level and increasing. According to the national survey of adolescents and youths in 2008, approximately 80% of young men and 36.5% of young women aged 14-25 years used alcohol, an increase by 10% among males and 8% among females over 5 years. Some 60.5% of young males and 22% of young females had ever been intoxicated. It is notable that prevalence of underage drinking-drinking (14-17 years)-is high at 47.5% for both sexes. The 67% of young people aged 18-21 years used alcohol. 3 According to a 2013 school-based student health survey, 52.7% of students in the 8th to 12th year of school had ever used alcohol,