The country’s youth must resist the influence of the tobacco and nicotine industry’s dirty marketing tactics, said Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar.
In a special message for World No Tobacco Day, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said that the young generation is often the target of the tobacco and nicotine industry.
“In recent decades, the tobacco industry has resorted to various strategic and aggressive marketing tactics to attract the public, especially children and adolescents,” the minister said.
This include the creation of stylish, toy-like products, strategic placement in popular media and sponsoring influencers to glamourise tobacco use.
“With the rise of these social media platforms and digital marketing, the tobacco industry can penetrate a wider market, targetting groups more precisely,” said the minister.
“Therefore, this year’s World No Tobacco Day campaign carries the theme of ‘Protecting children from tobacco industry interference’ aiming to raise awareness about the harmful influence of the tobacco industry to children.”
He called on the country’s youth to work hand-in-hand to denormalise smoking while also encourage those wishing to quit smoking to utilise government-provided smoking cessation clinics at health centres which provide counselling as well as pharmacotherapy assistance such as nicotine replacement.
“For those who successfully quit, Insya Allah, improvements to your health will be seen and felt, and the risk of related diseases will also decrease.”
The minister said that the Sultanate has been continuously ahead of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, a world chart of countries which received the least interference from the tobacco industry.
“Our country has been awarded the GGTC Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index (GTI) 2023 Integrity Award, as the best performing country in GTI 2023 for implementing Article 5.3 under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) effectively among 90 countries,” said the minister, noting that government has prohibited civil servants to engage with the tobacco industry.
The award was presented in a side event during the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO FCTC in Panama City, Panama in February.
The minister said however, “this kind of achievement does not mean that our country is exempt from being a target the sale of tobacco and nicotine products such as cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
“Although there are no licensed tobacco product distributors and the sale of electronic cigarettes is prohibited in the country, we can still see the use of such products in this country, including among teenagers”.
The minister said that the Global School Health Survey (GSHS) 2019 showed 9.8 per cent of teenagers aged 13-17 are smokers. The use of electronic cigarettes among adolescents aged 13- 15 is 13.3 per cent.
“These statistics are very worrying because nicotine can have a negative effect on the brain development of children and teenagers, which in turn can affect their emotional and cognitive functions, as well as increase the risk of addiction to tobacco, nicotine and other addictive substances.”
The minister welcomed support and cooperation from all parties to empower the country’s youth to “oppose the tobacco industry instead of falling for their tricks”.
“Let us work together to make a tobacco- and nicotine-free country for a healthier future generation.” – Fadley Faisal
