Tobacco Surveillance in Vietnam - Point of Purchase Cigarette Sales

Background: In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was established. Covering 86% of the world's population, more than 160 parties, it has since become one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history. To date, monitoring of the policies and programs has made limited progress. Currently there exists no baseline data on point of purchase sales for countries that have signed the treaty.

Objective/Purpose: This study examines point of purchase sales for a representative sample across Vietnam in the cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hue focusing on density of sales, product labeling, advertising and pricing information.

Methods: RTI International and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Global Public Health working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health trained staff to conduct an evaluation of 150 subareas randomly selected in the three Vietnam cities utilizing handheld devices (PDAs) with GPS for enumeration and tobacco vendor data collection during a 4 week period in late 2009.

Results: Over 90 areas were enumerated, and 485 vendor observations were recorded. One-thirds of the sample consisted of mobile or street vendors, and half of the sampled vendors sold more single sale cigarettes than packs or cartons. Data on the density of tobacco sales, product labeling, advertising and pricing information, and sale of single cigarettes will be presented.

Conclusion: Partnerships between country organizations, research and academic institutions provide a valuable opportunity to increase the sustainable capacity for tobacco control program and policy evaluation.