Preventing Harm, Saving Lives: Vietnam’s Journey Towards Effective, Comprehensive Alcohol Policy
Every person deserves to live in a community that protects their health and safety. Every family deserves to be free from the harms that alcohol causes.
“Vietnam’s experience tells a story that is all too familiar around the world. For much of its history, Vietnam was a country of low alcohol use where the majority of people lived free from alcohol and alcohol played a minimal role in social life.
“But as alcohol corporations pushed aggressively into the country in the 1990s and 2000s, alcohol use more than doubled. Road traffic deaths rose. Families were torn apart. By 2015, 45% of Vietnamese men were engaging in regular binge alcohol use, and WHO estimated that alcohol was a factor in nearly one third of all male traffic deaths. The human cost was enormous. All this harm and suffering was and is also largely preventable.
“Global alcohol corporations deliberately and systematically expanded into Vietnam, flooding communities and public space with advertising, sponsorships, and product placements but protections for communities were almost entirely absent. And when advocates and health officials tried to respond with a comprehensive alcohol law, Big Alcohol deployed its full lobbying playbook.
“And yet Vietnam persisted. Civil society organisations, National Assembly champions, the health ministry, and international partners persisted and ultimately prevailed. Together, they built the evidence base, connected parliamentarians with affected communities, countered misinformation in real time, and sustained their advocacy for more than two decades. The result is a modern alcohol law that has already saved lives: road crashes fell by more than 50% in the first month of enforcement alone. And in 2025, the alcohol tax reform that Big Alcohol had derailed in 2019 finally became law.
“Vietnam shows that determined, evidence-based advocacy can win even against the most powerful and well-resourced opposition.
“This report is for every advocate, every health champion, and every policymaker who is in that struggle today. The lesson from Vietnam is clear: persistence, cooperation, dedication to evidence and lived experience, and the strategic use of political opportunity can deliver change that saves lives and prevents harm.”
– Kristina Šperková, International President, Movendi International and Esbjörn Hörnberg, Executive Director, Movendi International
Vietnam’s Journey Towards Modern Alcohol Policy
How Viet Nam built the alliances, gathered the evidence, and secured landmark alcohol legislation – and what advocates worldwide can learn from this inspiring public health achievement.
“Preventing Harm, Saving Lives: Vietnam’s journey towards effective, comprehensive alcohol policy” is a comprehensive account of how Vietnam achieved two historic alcohol policy milestones: the adoption of its first comprehensive, modern Alcohol Harm Prevention Law in 2019, and landmark alcohol excise tax reform in 2025.
For decades, Viet Nam experienced one of the fastest rises in alcohol consumption in the world. But eventually, in 2019 the country responded with its first-ever comprehensive Alcohol Harm Prevention Law. It is a landmark achievement built on leadership and commitment of people in the government, parliament, civil society and academia.
Years of determined advocacy rooted in lived experience and anchored in the realities of communities facing alcohol harm unlocked remarkable alcohol policy progress. Strategic and timely use of evidence paved the way. And partnerships in Viet Nam as well as international support helped overcome alcohol industry interference
The law delivered rapid, visible results. Within months, traffic crashes fell by more than 50%. In 2025, the National Assembly took another remarkable, approving a multi-year alcohol tax increase – the most powerful alcohol policy tool of all.
Viet Nam’s journey shows what persistence, solidarity, and evidence-based advocacy can achieve. It is a story with lessons for alcohol policy advocates everywhere.
The Report at a Glance: Visual Assets
Download the visual assets for free and see report highlights at a glance.
