Re: Smoking: we know, so what

[Phan Thanh Lam <phtl@freenet.tlh.fl.us>]

On Mon, 3 Aug 1998, Tuan V Nguyen wrote:
> 	Experience in the West has given us many
> valuable lessons and we should learn from them.
> For example, in Australia the prevalence of
> smoking decreased from 30% to 20% within 5 years
> of TOTAL banning tobacco ads. Why can VN do 
> the same? The answer may be linked to the fact 

Hello anh NV.Tuan, anh TT.Hoang,

I'd like to suggest that an applied research or study that would  document
the effectiveness (and non effectiveness) of various (counter) measures
used in anti- smoking campaign in Vietnam would be of interest to more
people than pure research on social, economic, environmental or genetic
issues.  

There existed so much information on topics related to
cigarettes, cigar and smoke less tobacco.  The U.S. Congress, the federal
government and state governments have accumulated all of these info. due
to the recent lawsuit against tobacco companies.  I am not sure where
Vietnam would contribute further in this issue.

I'd like to suggest a study that composed of the following tasks:

1.  SEE WHAT'S OUT THERE (Conduct litterature review)
2.  HAVE A PLAN (Propose an evaluation methodology to compare
effectiveness (a before and after study)
3.  BORROW SOME (Select three measures that have been applied succesfully
in other countries (pick US, Australia, England, Japan, Singapore, China
...) that have the most potential of success in VN.
4.  TRY THEM (Conduct a pilot or demonstration project)
5.  SEE WHAT WORKED (Evaluate the results)
6.  ACTION PLAN (Conclusions and recommendations)

Studies in the U.S. have found that measures targeted at adults and
teenagers groups older than 8th grade have been found to be non effective.
They (the government, the cancer research institution...) basically write
off the people that already smoke and focus more to the younger kids
(grade 1-7). This strategy really have the tobacco makers
worried because this is the exact group that they targeted so succesfully 
before (these companies are always a step before the government) . 

Perhaps future anti smoking campaign in Vietnam should target
this group bacause of its proven effectiveness elsewhere and political
and economic acceptance in Vietnam.

Sincerely,
Lam