Easily Following Trends, Preventing Vaping Among Teenagers Must Start with Education

JAKARTA – Preventing teenagers from using vapes, according to Prof Dr dr Agus Dwi Susanto, Sp.P(K), FISR, FAPSR, Professor in Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia (FKUI), requires the involvement of all parties. Education cannot be limited to teenagers alone.

“Education must be carried out by all parties, starting from families, healthcare workers, government, to educational institutions,” said Agus when contacted on Tuesday (15/4/2026).

Education serves as the primary step to curb vape usage. This is particularly important because teenagers are in a phase where they are easily influenced by their environment and trends.

Prevention efforts cannot be done just once, but must be repeated and consistent so that teenagers understand the health risks associated with vape use.

Without strong education, Agus continued, teenagers tend to view vapes as safe and normal to try.

Agus assesses that the main challenge in prevention is the massive promotion of vapes that builds an image as part of a modern lifestyle.

“Teenagers tend to imitate what they see. Massive promotion makes vapes seem like part of a lifestyle,” he stated.

This perception leads many teenagers to try vapes without understanding the harmful substances contained within, including addictive nicotine.

According to him, the role of the family is important in providing early understanding and supervising children’s behaviour in their daily environment.

In addition, schools also need to actively provide health education and create an environment that does not support vape use among students. Agus also believes that government intervention is necessary to strengthen public education and control promotions targeting young people.

Without structured and sustainable prevention measures, vape use among teenagers has the potential to increase and cause health impacts in the future.