Second-hand Smoke Baseline Study and Monitoring in Vietnam

Vietnam has a tobacco smoking prevalence of 49% among men. A large burden of disease and premature death can be attributed to this high rate of tobacco use and SHS exposure. There is insufficient information regarding the range of exposure, the locations where passive smoking is taking place and the determinants of exposure in countries like Vietnam. The Reduce Smoking in Vietnam Partnership (RSVP) operates in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and focuses on developing national policies to reduce tobacco use and to improve capacity-building in order to implement tobacco control policies and programs. RSVP is piloting a smoke-free policy intervention among nine hospitals. Hospitals are critical places for the introduction of smoke-free workplaces and environments. Monitoring of hospitals serves to increase awareness of the contradiction between smoking in healthcare settings and the goals of medical institutions. Health workers also play an exemplary role in society. Finally, smoke-free hospitals are a sign of respect towards patients and offer an opportunity for smoking patients to quit.

This project will examine existing smoking policies and regulations, observe compliance to such policies, and determine smoking behaviors and levels of SHS awareness among staff. This will be conducted in three phases: (1) the pre-intervention phase will provide baseline levels of air nicotine concentrations as well as current smoking policies and observations of behaviors, (2) implementation of a tailored intervention, (3) during the post-intervention nicotine concentrations will again be measured and surveys conducted to evaluate the success of the intervention.