National anti-tobacco drive to start with doctors
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Knowledge of the danger of a certain act does not necessarily deter one from committing it, or so a recent survey indicates when health professionals were asked about their smoking habits.
The survey shows that 16.5 percent of health professionals in Jakarta are smokers.
The survey, conducted by the Agency for Smoking Control (LM3) among 600 health professionals in Jakarta, also revealed that 13.5 percent of community health center (Puskesmas) officers were also addicted to nicotine.
"Peer pressure made me start smoking in high school and it has continued up to the present, so I am already addicted," said 26- year old Taufik Indrawan, a doctor at a private clinic.
He admitted to being well aware that his health was at risk. "It is a habit that's difficult to give up."
Despite the prevalence of smoking among health professionals this year, the government has called on them to actively participate in a national anti-tobacco campaign, which includes setting an example by giving up on tobacco.
This year's anti-tobacco campaign theme is a copy of the World Health Organization's campaign aimed at increasing the role of health professionals in tobacco control.
"They have the opportunity to help people change their behavior and give advice, guidance and answers to questions related to the consequences of tobacco use," WHO acting representative for Indonesia Frits de Haan explained during a forum in Jakarta on Wednesday.
It is suggested WHO that professionals -- doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists -- should routinely ask patients and clients about their tobacco use and/or exposure. They should also advise and guide them to quit smoking.
Health professional organizations are also urged to actively support the government to sign, ratify and implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which Indonesia, one of its drafters, has so far refused to sign despite mounting pressure from health activists.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force on Feb. 27, includes promotion of taxation as a means of cutting down on consumption, aside from imposing restrictions on smoking in public places, affixing larger, more visible health warnings on cigarette packs and intensifying the fight against smuggling.
The UN's health committee hopes that the anti-tobacco pact, which 168 countries signed and 62 ratified, will help reduce the devastating economic and health impacts of tobacco consumption, the second leading cause of preventable deaths globally after hypertension. Smoking is reportedly responsible for approximately 4.9 million deaths each year.
"Ratifying the FCTC must involve an inter-departmental agreement and is a lot more complicated to achieve," Minister of Health Siti Fadillah Supari said last week when asked why her office failed push Indonesia to sign the pact.
The farthest that Indonesia has come so far in the anti- tobacco campaign was a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in tobacco excise taxes, which will be effective in July, and the recent issuance of a decree by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso to ban smoking in public places.
The decree however has not yet been enforced effectively as people in the capital can still freely smoke in public spaces, including public transportation vehicles.
Even so, anti-tobacco activists have seen the city administration's measure as a breakthrough, saying they would award Sutiyoso on Thursday for issuing such a regulation to support the anti-smoking campaign. (003)