(Photo: VOV)

(VOVworld) - The Health Ministry held a meeting in Hanoi on Friday to respond to 2014 World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and Vietnam’s No Tobacco Week. The World Health Organization and its partners called for an increase in taxes on cigarettes to lower cigarette consumption, particularly by teenagers.

Vietnam’s national strategy on tobacco control and prevention hopes to reduce the current 47.4% smoking rate among males to 39% by 2020. Vietnam intends to increase the special consumption tax on tobacco from the current 65% to 105% by 2015 and 155% by 2020.