JAKARTA: New strategies to prevent and control cigarette consumption in Indonesia are highly needed, according to an official from the Ministry of Health, reported Antara.
The statement was made by the director of Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, Eva Susanti, at the “Policy Brief and National Monitoring of Cigarette Selling Prices in 2023” event in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“Cigarette prices in Indonesia are still relatively cheap, and efforts to increase their prices through excise and tax will be a priority,“ she remarked.
Eva underscored the need for other strategies in monitoring tobacco product consumption, implementing preventive measures, protecting people from cigarette smoke, and optimising stop-smoking services.
According to her, Indonesia’s smoking prevalence, which has reached 33.5 per cent, or 70 million people, must be reduced by increasing cigarette excise and tax.
“Not only for cigarettes, (but) we must (also) make efforts to reduce the prevalence of electronic cigarette (users), which has significantly increased from 0.3 per cent to three per cent,“ she stated.
Eva remarked that funds from the Tobacco Excise Revenue Sharing Fund must be directed to support efforts to control smoking and optimise stop-smoking services in all districts and cities in Indonesia.
She said her ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Coordinating and Ministry for Human Development and Culture to monitor cigarette advertisements, implement excise, and combat the menace of illegal cigarettes across sectors.
“Promotional advertisements of tobacco products are still widespread, and advertising regulations are still weak in terms of reducing the desire (to smoke), especially among children and teenagers.”
Eva affirmed that her ministry hopes to be able to reduce smoking prevalence, protect people from the effects of smoking, and improve the health of Indonesia’s future generations. –Bernama
