2024-01-05 09:36:56
According to Indonesia’s latest Global Adult Tobacco Survey, 63% of Indonesia’s 70.2 million smokers intended to quit smoking or were considering doing so. Despite this strong motivation, existing smoking cessation services in the country fail to effectively support these people.
According to the same report, only 38.9% of smokers who visited health care facilities received advice to quit smoking, highlighting a crucial gap that urgently needs to be addressed according to the same report. WHO[1].
The burden of smoking in Indonesia
Among Indonesian adults (aged 15 and over), 34.5% use tobacco, including almost two-thirds of men (65.5%), one of the highest prevalences in the world. There is a worrying increase in the prevalence of smoking among women but also a constant increase in the prevalence of smoking among minors aged 10 to 18. Nearly 300,000 Indonesians die each year due to tobacco use and 50,000 of these deaths are caused by passive smoking.
Indonesia is one of the few countries in the world that has not ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control due to strong lobbying by the tobacco industry. archyde news of tobacco products is still widespread and regulations in the field or banning smoking remain insufficient to protect Indonesians and limit access to tobacco products, particularly among children and adolescents.
The need to offer cessation services for smokers
In response to these challenges, the Indonesian Ministry of Health collaborated with WHO to organize a national planning meeting on smoking cessation. The main objectives were to raise awareness of the importance of smoking cessation support, identify challenges and develop key recommendations for a national action plan to improve these services across Indonesia. The meeting brought together 45 representatives from various ministries and public agencies, as well as members of civil society organizations and academia.
Dr Dongbo Fu, smoking cessation physician at WHO headquarters in Geneva, shared WHO recommendations and best practices from around the world. He emphasized the need for a comprehensive system of cessation incentives and treatments, which integrates population-level approaches, intensive individual interventions and the use of drugs on the drug reference list WHO Essentials. All participants agreed to strengthen access to cessation services by further training health professionals so that they can offer all patients advice on smoking cessation throughout the care pathway. They also proposed relying on digital technology with the development of mobile cessation applications so that more people can access smoking cessation help.
A treatment policy through the management of smoking cessation is, however, only one of the axes of a strategy for reducing tobacco consumption, which to be effective, must be comprehensive. A cessation policy is particularly difficult to implement, even independently of the health system, in the absence of other protective regulations, particularly with regard to the prevention of entry into smoking.
Very timid progress in the fight against smoking
Recently, Indonesia has made some progress in adopting tobacco control policies. 456 cities and districts, representing approximately 86% of all cities and districts in Indonesia, have adopted the establishment of tobacco-free spaces. But the effective implementation of these regulations still leaves much to be desired. One of the main obstacles is the lack of measurable data and monitoring tools that would guarantee the effective application of these policies[2].
According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, an alarming number of adults are exposed to passive smoking: 74% were exposed in restaurants, 51% in public buildings or offices, 45% in places of domestic work and 41% in public transport. The establishment of tobacco-free spaces is a particularly cost-effective measure which not only protects individuals from passive smoking, but also contributes to changing social norms surrounding smoking and encourages smokers to quit.
Last December, Indonesia’s health ministry called for stronger anti-smoking measures to curb tobacco consumption. He wants to increase taxes on tobacco and vaping products and limit for these products; he particularly denounced the freedom enjoyed by tobacco manufacturers at this level.
Keywords: Indonesia, cessation, cessation assistance, smoking, tobacco-free spaces, tobacco control
©Tobacco Free Generation
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[1] Press release, Breaking free: Enhancing tobacco cessation services to help Indonesians quit smokingWHO published January 3, 2024, accessed January 4, 2024
[2] Press release, Indonesia launches innovative smoke-free area dashboard to protect public healthWHO published July 18, 2023, accessed January 4, 2024
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