Asians win awards in antismoking drive

Asians win awards in antismoking drive

Agence France-Presse, Manila

On the eve of World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday praised three Asian medical doctors for their efforts to stamp out smoking, an addiction that kills almost 5 million people a year.

WHO honored health care professionals from Cambodia, Malaysia and South Korea for their contributions to the fight against tobacco and also praised government departments in Guam and China.

"They have played a predominant role in preventive measures, including promoting social norm change and forewarning children and adolescents of the danger of tobacco," said Shigeru Omi, WHO's Western Pacific regional director.

"Despite what we know about smoking today, tobacco consumption continues to increase worldwide, especially in developing countries," Omi said. "Health professionals have the opportunity to help people change their behavior."

Lim Thai Pheang, director of Cambodia's National Center for Health Promotion, was praised in a WHO statement as "a visionary advocate for tobacco control in Cambodia for many years".

Working to change attitudes with few resources, "Lim started in the mid-1990s to call for smoke-free policies, advertising bans and improved public awareness of the harms of tobacco use".

In Malaysia, Sallehudin Bin Abu Bakar, deputy director of the Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Health Department, had since 1999 helped start up about 200 government 'Quit Smoking' clinics across the country.

He produced a handbook on tobacco dependence and "greatly contributed" to training health professionals on tobacco control, the statement said.

The third doctor honored, Park Jae-gahb, president of South Korea's National Cancer Center, had persuaded three television stations and 12 newspapers to stop showing scenes and pictures of people smoking.

At his urging, the country's national assembly building became a non-smoking workplace and two national labor unions had adopted no-smoking campaigns.

WHO also honored Guam's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for its "comprehensive tobacco control strategy". Guam has the highest adult smoking rate among all U.S. states and territories, said WHO.

China's Railway Ministry was praised for banning smoking in more than 500 train stations and introducing non-smoking carriages on 800 trains.

According to WHO, smoking is the world's single biggest preventable cause of death, claiming 4.9 million lives a year.

If present consumption patterns continue, this will more than double to 10 million deaths by 2020, with 70 percent of fatalities in developing countries.

In the Western Pacific region alone, tobacco kills more than 3,000 people each day. It has the highest rate of male smokers and the fastest increase of smoking among children and young women, according to WHO data.