Tobacco use continues to be the leading global cause of preventable deaths. Of the world’s 1.25 billion adult smokers, 10 % reside within SEACs [58]. Therefore, it is critical to develop strategies for increasing access to evidence-based tobacco use treatment services that could lead to significant reductions in tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. The WHO, through the FCTC, has started to take action to reduce the burden of tobacco-related disease in LMICs [8]. Treatment of tobacco use is mandated in Article 14 of the WHO FCTC as a key component of comprehensive tobacco control strategy. Tobacco dependence treatment is also recommended by the WHO as part of a comprehensive package of essential services for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in primary care in accordance to the revised draft of the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs (2013–2020). Yet, there are tremendous gaps in knowledge regarding how to implement guidelines for tobacco use treatment in public health systems in LMICs. We are not aware of any research that has attempted to systematically study strategies for implementing tobacco use treatment guidelines as a routine part of care primary care in LMICs. The current study has the potential to provide relevant information to guide large-scale adoption of strategies for implementing and disseminating tobacco use treatment guidelines throughout the public health system in Vietnam and to serve as a model for similar action in other LMICs and the U.S. There are some potential limitations. First, we have defined the core elements of the implementation strategies; however, we acknowledge that adaptations to the unique practice context will be necessary. We will use fidelity checks to ensure that the core elements are implemented and will document adaptations to enhance external validity. Second differences between high-income and low-income health care systems, including the high smoking rates among male physicians, may pose challenges for implementation. However, our pilot research, which is consistent with national surveys, found that smoking rates among women (nurses and doctors) is less than 5 % [1]. Over 70 % of providers working in CHCs and 90 % of VHWs are female, somewhat mitigating this potential problem. Finally, cessation medication is not available in Vietnam; however, there is good evidence that brief counseling alone from a physician or other health care professional can increase abstinence rates by 30 % and more intensive counseling, even without medication, can result in quit rates of >20 % at 6 months compared to less than 5 % without treatment [8]. In order to test the impact of an intervention that would have the most potential for sustainability, we are not providing cessation pharmacotherapy. Despite limitations, the findings have potential for high impact by identifying best practices for implementing tobacco use treatment in public health care delivery systems in Vietnam and other LMICs and providing key stakeholders with the data they need to make decisions regarding dissemination of effective tobacco dependence treatment guidelines.