"Through the #HealthyWithoutSmoking campaign, we are collaborating...to ensure that the public not only receives education on the dangers of smoking but also gains access to appropriate clinical assistance and pharmacotherapy," Director of Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at the ministry, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said.
Tarmizi stated here on Wednesday that tobacco dependence remains one of the largest public health crises in Indonesia, carrying serious social and economic consequences.
The fatal impacts of smoking threaten not only active smokers but also passive smokers and third-hand smokers, namely those who inhale toxic cigarette residue that adheres to clothing, skin, and household furniture.
"Pneumonia causes 740,000 deaths among children under the age of five globally each year, and children living in households with smoking parents are far more vulnerable to developing pneumonia due to exposure to cigarette smoke," she said.
The crisis, she pointed out, has also been exacerbated by a surge in the use of electronic cigarettes or vapes among adolescents, which has increased tenfold from 0.3 percent to 3 percent.
Therefore, in conjunction with the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day, the ministry has established a strategic collaboration with Kenvue, Guardian Indonesia, the Indonesian Society of Respirology (PDPI), and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).
"The reality has driven the launch of the national #HealthyWithoutSmoking campaign, which is a follow-up initiative to the Smoking Cessation Program for a Healthy Indonesia mandated under Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health," Tarmizi said.
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Translator: Mecca, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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