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.