[Intl-tobacco] Vietnam: Tobacco throws families into poverty

[Robert Weissman]

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2005/12/524005/
VietnamNet Bridge

Tobacco causes poverty for 1.3mil
17:18' 19/12/2005 (GMT+7)
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VietNamNet =96 Ministry of Health=92s statistics show that tobacco
consumption causes 1.3mil people to fall below the poverty threshold

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Annually, cigarette sales consume around VND8bil, enough to build 20,000
health stations. Meanwhile, spending on cigarettes in poor families is
1.5 times higher than health expenses, according to statistics released
on December 18.

In addition, long-term smokers often have to spend VND11mil/year on
average for curing tobacco-related diseases.

The rate of smokers in big cities seems to have reduced, but has tended
to increase in rural areas. The statistics also point out that if
spending on cigarettes was used to buy food, 11.2% of needy families
would escape from hunger and malnutrition.

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