The Ministry of Health (MoH) is finalising a draft law on alcohol harm prevention and plans to submit it to the National Assembly for consideration in May 2018. — Photo healthplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health (MoH) is finalising a draft law on alcohol harm prevention and plans to submit it to the National Assembly for consideration in May 2018. 

The draft law will feature policies based on studies on alcohol consumption in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Huy Quang, Director of the MoH’s Legal Affairs Department, said at a workshop organised by the ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Hà Nội yesterday. 

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long said Việt Nam ranked second in Southeast Asia, 10th in Asia and 29th in the world in alcohol consumption. 

More than 77 per cent of adult males and 11 per cent of women said they had drunk alcohol in the past 30 days. Nearly half of men had engaged in binge drinking.

Meanwhile, the older people were, the more alcohol they consumed, according to Trần Quốc Bảo – an official from the Department of Preventive Medicine. 

About 45 per cent of surveyed people said they drove a vehicle within two hours of drinking. A national survey on Việt Nam’s male adolescents also showed that 20.8 per cent of respondents drove after drinking and sustained injuries that led to a leave of at least one week from school or work. 

Bảo said alcohol directly resulted in at least 30 diseases and is the indirect cause of 200 other diseases. It is also one of the top 10 causes of deaths in Việt Nam, according to the WHO. 

Deputy Minister Long said many new regulations being considered have already been enforced in other countries and proved effective, such as a ban on alcohol sales after 10pm or for underage youth, and a ban on alcohol advertising in public places. 

If such regulations were not enforced, alcohol consumption in Việt Nam would grow at an even faster pace, he stressed. — VNS