Laos to enforce tighter tobacco control

VIENTIANE (VIENTIANE TIMES/ANN) -- Laos' Hygiene and Prevention Department of the Ministry of Health is preparing to draw up a decree for the Tobacco Control Fund, which will govern future tobacco control activities.

A meeting to explain the progress made towards establishing the fund was held on Tuesday at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Director General of the ministry's Mass Media Department Pinprathana Phanthamaly said the objective was to create awareness of the dangers of tobacco and to reduce the number of new smokers.

"As we know, tobacco is a legal product, but it is harmful to the health of smokers and second-hand smokers. I hope that media personnel will continue to campaign on the dangers of tobacco as much as possible," he said, adding that if people are healthy they can earn money and improve the circumstances of their family for the betterment of the nation.

About 50 personnel from media organisations learned about the objectives of the Tobacco Control Fund outlined in a speech by the Deputy Head of the Health Promotion Division of the Hygiene and Prevention Department, Dr Khatthanaphone Phandouangsy.

She said the fund would not only reduce the death rate and the incidence of illness caused by smoking, but would also support the World Health Organisation's (WHO) treaty on tobacco control.

According to a Ministry of Health survey in 2005, 40 per cent or 1.5 million Lao people under 18 years of age smoke, of which 67 per cent are male, and about 14.4 per cent of students aged from 13 to 15 also smoke.

According to statistics from the WHO, there are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, of whom 70 per cent live in lesser-developed countries and 250 million are female. The statistics also state that about six million people around the world die every year.

If cigarette addiction is left unchanged, WHO expects the mortality rate to increase to 10 million in 2020. This means that about 10 percent of the population will die before they reach the average mortality age.

VTETimes

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