National and transnational actors hold power that influenced the tobacco control policies in Vietnam

Introduction: In 2012, the Vietnam’s first Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms (TC Law) was enacted along with the establishment of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund (VNTCF) which provides sustainable funding for tobacco control activities in the country. This study aims to assess the contributions of national and transnational actors to these achievements in order to provide lesson learnt for the current policy advocacy towards revising the Law on tobacco tax in Vietnam.

Methods: Literature review using regulations and reports from the Government, Ministry of Health, and involved organization was performed. In-depth interviews with key informants who participated and contributed to the advocacy of TC Law were conducted.

Results: Based on the Law on the promulgation of legislative documents, in the process of drafting the proposed laws, the lead drafting agencies/organizations shall collect comments from concerned agencies/organizations and the direct objects of the legal documents. In the case of TC Law, the Ministry of Health was the lead drafting agency. The most influencer agencies within the government commented to the draft were Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Committees of National Assembly (including the Committee on Social Affairs, the Committee on Laws, and the Committee on Judicial Affairs). Of these, the strong support gained from MOF about the proposal of VNTCF establishment (funded by “sin tax”) was critical. Semi and non-government organizations played the roles of policy advocacy and reviewing. Main actors were the Vietnam Steering Committee on Smoking and Health, the Vietnam Office of World Health Organization and HealthBridge. Regional and international organizations funded the researches to ensure evidence-informed policy making and facilitated study visits and workshops with relevant government officials. National and regional workshops also help gaining support from relevant policy makers, media and public. For the current advocacy for the revised Tax Law which proposed the raise on tobacco tax, MOF again is the critical actor. Strategic partnership with MOF is a must to gain support from other actors within the government and succeed push through the proposal.

Conclusions: Based on the structure and requirements of policy making process in Vietnam, a policy will never be approved if it only receives support from a sole Ministry. Inter-sectoral partnership among Ministries, between government and non-government agencies as well as technical and financial support from regional and international agencies are key points and essential to the success.