Smoking rate going the wrong way

The smoking prevalence among underage people in Indonesia is continuing to rise despite efforts to reduce it, according to a Temp story.

Whereas 7.2 percent of teenagers under 18 years of age were classified as smokers in 2014, by last year that figure had risen to 8.8 percent.

“Our goal is to reduce smoking prevalence rate among people under 18 years-old to 6.4 percent in 2016 and to 5.4 percent in 2019,” said M. Subuh, director general of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health.

“But in reality; it’s currently increasing significantly.”

Looking at the wider picture, Subuh described the current smoking prevalence in Indonesian as worrying.

About one-third of Indonesians were smokers and the country’s under-15 years-old smoking population was currently one of the highest in the world.

According to Subuh, smoking is the major cause of non-transmitted diseases; so a smoker had a much higher risk of suffering from coronary heart disease than did a non-smoker.

“As an attempt to control non-transmitted diseases, establishing non-smoking areas has become the main effort,” he said.

“We appreciate regional officials who have currently established policies on non-smoking areas.”