Municipal staff leads anti-smoking push by example

Pa Socheatvong, the municipal governor of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, has thrown his support behind a campaign to ban tobacco smoking in the city’s enclosed public places, and he has made a start by banning his staff from smoking in municipal buildings, according to a story in The Phnom Penh Post.

Addressing the second Smoke-Free Phnom Penh workshop, Socheatvong cited his decision to give up cigarettes 11 months ago after more than 30 years of smoking as motivation for supporting the campaign, which is attempting to have smoking banned from all public buildings, including restaurants and cafés.

“Our governor is a model for all civil servants in Phnom Penh to quit smoking,” municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said. “We must start with ourselves if we want to stop smoking at the commune and district levels.”

Dimanche said the municipality had not put a timeframe on the ban, but would enact it as soon as possible.