Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung recently approved a programme that would ban adolescents from selling cigarettes or selling cigarettes to adolescents, and raise taxes and retail prices for tobacco products.

Increased prices will try and encourage people to smoke less

The decisions are part of a national strategy to curb tobacco use by 2020, with the intention of reducing smoking among young people from 26% in 2011 to 18% in 2020.

It is also hoped that the regulation would see the rate of male smokers drop from 47.4% in 2011 to 39% in 2020, with female smokers declining to 1.4%.

The government will ban cigarette vending machines and adolescents from selling cigarettes.

Cities and provinces will also increase their anti-smoking propaganda.

The national tobacco strategy will be conducted in two phases, from 2012-2015 and from 2016-2020.

People's Army Newspaper reported that Vietnam is among the top 15 tobacco-using countries in the world with exposure rates at home and the workplace reaching 67.6% and 49% respectively, according to the Ministry of Health. Tobacco has made a contribution to the economy but it has also meant higher health spending.

Tobacco is cited as a common cause of 25 diseases and regular smokers face 2.5 to 10 times higher fatality rates compared to non-smokers.

In Vietnam smoking ranks second as the cause of death. According to the WHO, tobacco killed 40,000 per year, with the number set to rise to 70,000 by 2030.