Selection of Pictorial health warning on cigarette packs in Vietnam

Abstract

In Viet Nam, the Law on Tobacco Control came into effect on May 1, 2013. It is stated in Article 15 of the Law that pictorial health warning must occupy at least 50% of both front and back spaces of the cigarette packs. The aim of the study entitled "Selection of Pictorial health warning on cigarette packs in Viet Nam" was to select six most appropriate samples of pictorial health warning in the context of Viet Nam to submit them to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Industry and Trade for development and issuance of a joint-circular on the “Guidelines for labeling and printing of health warning on cigarette packages”. This study was conducted from November 2012 to mid-January 2013 in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City with a sample size of 560 people aged 15 years and above, both smokers and non-smokers. The study results showed that 6 selected samples can be ranked, based on the highest mean scores, respectively as follows: sample 3 (Smoking causes lung cancer) with 4.00 points; sample 7 (Smoking causes throat and larynx cancer) with 3.90 points; sample 5 (Smoking leads to a gradual and painful death) with 3.85 points; sample 6 (Smoking causes cerebral hemorrhage) with 3.84 points; sample 1 (Smoking causes cacostomia and tooth decay ) with 3.82 points; and sample 8 (Tobacco smoke is very harmful to the fetus and young children) with 3.77 points. Those six samples with the highest selection rate were consistent with the highest recorded mean scores.