Big fall in young smokers

A national survey conducted in Tonga has found that a significant fall in smoking has occurred among young people, according to a Radio New Zealand story.

Tonga started an anti-tobacco campaign last year, focusing on the dangers of smoking around children.

And it relaunched the campaign this year to highlight the general dangers of tobacco use.

The medical officer in charge of the Tonga Health Promotion Foundation, Dr. Ofa Tukia, said that whereas 22.0 percent of young people had smoked cigarettes in 2010, that figure had now dropped to 14.6 percent.

Tukia was quoted as saying that she was pleased with the results of the survey, for which the campaign could take credit.

But she said the number of young smokers was still too high.

The campaign is due to run until 2020.