Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Research for Impact, Singapore, Singapore.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022 Sep 1;11(9):1616-1624. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.25. Epub 2021 Apr 13.
The global e-cigarette market has proliferated and is increasingly dominated by transnational tobacco companies. While Southeast Asian countries have received relatively little attention in e-cigarette research, the region represents an area of potentially untapped growth for the industry. We review the e-cigarette situation in Southeast Asia in terms of the e-cigarette markets, advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes, reported health impacts of e-cigarette use, and policy responses in the region.
We examined e-cigarette market data from the Euromonitor Global Market Information Database (GMID) Passport database, searched in the academic literature, grey literature and news archives for any reports or studies of e-cigarette related diseases or injuries, e-cigarette marketing, and e-cigarette policy responses in Southeast Asian countries, and browsed the websites of online e-cigarette retailers catering to the region's active e-cigarette markets.
In 2019, e-cigarettes were sold in six Southeast Asian markets with a total market value of $595 million, projected to grow to $766 million by 2023. E-commerce is a significant and growing sales channel in the region, with most of the popular or featured brands in online shops originating from China. Southeast Asian youth are targeted with a wide variety of flavours, trendy designs and point of sale promotions, and several e-cigarette related injuries and diseases have been reported in the region. Policy responses vary considerably between countries, ranging from strict bans to no or partial regulations.
Although Southeast Asia's e-cigarette market is relatively nascent, this is likely to change if transnationals invest more heavily in the region. Populous countries with weak e-cigarette regulations, notably Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, are desirable targets for the transnationals. Regulatory action is needed to prevent e-cigarette use from becoming entrenched into these societies, especially among young people.
全球电子烟市场蓬勃发展，越来越多的跨国烟草公司占据主导地位。虽然东南亚国家在电子烟研究方面受到的关注相对较少，但该地区代表着该行业潜在的未开发增长领域。我们从电子烟市场、电子烟广告和促销、电子烟使用的报告健康影响以及该地区的政策应对措施等方面来审查东南亚的电子烟情况。
我们从 Euromonitor Global Market Information Database（GMID）Passport 数据库中检查了电子烟市场数据，在学术文献、灰色文献和新闻档案中搜索了任何关于电子烟相关疾病或伤害、电子烟营销以及东南亚国家电子烟政策应对措施的报告或研究，并浏览了迎合该地区活跃电子烟市场的在线电子烟零售商的网站。
2019 年，电子烟在六个东南亚市场销售，总市场价值为 5.95 亿美元，预计到 2023 年将增长到 7.66 亿美元。电子商务是该地区一个重要且不断增长的销售渠道，大多数在线商店中流行或特色品牌都来自中国。东南亚的年轻人是各种口味、时尚设计和销售点促销的目标群体，该地区已经报告了几起与电子烟相关的伤害和疾病。各国之间的政策应对措施差异很大，从严格禁止到没有或部分监管。
尽管东南亚的电子烟市场相对较新，但如果跨国公司在该地区投入更多资金，情况可能会发生变化。人口众多且电子烟监管薄弱的国家，尤其是印度尼西亚、马来西亚、越南和菲律宾，是跨国公司的理想目标。需要采取监管行动，防止电子烟的使用在这些社会中根深蒂固，尤其是在年轻人中。
