Title of the research: 

 

Health Impact Assessment  – strengthening the evidence base, options and support for increasing tobacco taxes in Vietnam 

 

Objectives:

The project purpose is to strengthen the evidence base, options and support for raising tobacco taxes in Vietnam by assessing the health impacts of three options for tobacco tax policy: current approved increases; a higher increase to achieve national health goals for 2020; and a best practice tax goal that could be reached with incremental increases (70% of retail price as recommended by the World Health Organization).    

 

The overall objective of this project is to increase support of government and community leaders for improving tobacco tax policy by: reviewing and assessing the scientific evidence on health and economic impacts of raising tobacco taxes in Vietnam; and ensuring that an improved evidence-base provides a strong foundation for cost-benefit analysis that is normally included in the regulatory impact assessment reporting by Ministries of Finance and Health. Gaps in the evidence will also be identified for future research priority.

 

Duration:

5 months (From 1^st December 2016 to 30^th April 2017)

 

Methodology:

The project used the following methods, models and activities to achieve its three objectives aimed at reviewing, assessing and estimating health impacts of three tobacco tax options:
 

First, we reviewed the current methods/models used in health impact assessment for increasing tobacco taxes. Current methods/models used in health impacts assessment of raising tobacco tax will be examined in terms of assumptions, inputs and outputs as well as advantages and limitations.

 

Secondly, comprehensive literature review of papers related to health impacts assessment of raising tobacco tax in low-and-middle income countries published during the last 5 years was conducted. PubMed databases (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/)  will mainly be used for this literature reviews. This activity assesses the scientific evidence on health impacts of raising tobacco tax in low-and-middle income countries and Vietnam in particular.

 

Finally and the most important, we adopted and developing a static health impact assessment model to estimated potential health impacts of three different scenarios or options for increasing tobacco taxes in Vietnam.

 

The final report presented to the Working Group under VINACOSH and discussed at meetings with Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders to strengthen the current regulatory impact process required by government for new laws and policies both before and after implementation. The final report will form basis of an article on proposed impact assessment in Vietnam for joint publication in an international peer-reviewed journal with support of The Union.

 

Being the sponsoring agency of the project, The Union is a key international partner with local staff that has current grants with both MoF, the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund (VNTCF) and Vietnam Public Health Association (VPHA) and these relationships provide opportunities and links to both Ministries of Finance and Health to improve policies consistent and supportive of requirements under national laws on tobacco control and regulatory impact assessments. 

 

Source: Center for Population Health Sciences (CPHS) - Hanoi University of Public Health