Global IssuesCAMBODIA: Gov't Heats Up Anti-Smoking Campaign
For anti-smoking advocate Mom Kong, the ubiquitous flashy cigarette advertisements he sees throughout Cambodia’s capital city are a major barrier to reducing smoking.
'You can see it everywhere,' said Mom, the executive director of the Cambodia Movement for Health, a non-government organisation (NGO) that advocates tough anti-smoking laws. 'You can see it on the street. Or at concerts, which can attract a lot of youth and rural people to smoke.'
But within the last year, the government has announced long-awaited measures aimed at reducing smoking in Cambodia, which are already among the highest in South-east Asia.
In July, a law that orders tobacco manufacturers and importers to place large health warnings on cigarette packages — spanning at least 30 percent of the pack — came into effect. And now, authorities have promised to introduce strict regulations that would ban all tobacco advertising and promotions by early next year.
Such a move would bring the country into compliance with a key element of the landmark Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which mandates governments to ban all forms of tobacco advertising. Under the treaty, signatory nations are obliged to 'undertake a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship' within five years.
For Mom Kong, the measures are vital to reducing smoking — and preventing potential new smokers from lighting up.
'Tobacco advertising helps to attract children to smoking and makes it difficult for smokers to quit,' he said. 'Banning advertising would be an effective measure to prevent youth and children from smoking.'
Numerous studies have drawn a link between tobacco advertising and smoking. A study published in 2008 in the ‘British Medical Journal’ examined susceptibility to smoking among youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Researchers found that the presence of billboard advertising increased even school-aged girls’ vulnerability to smoking.
'Our results indicate the potential benefits of banning billboard tobacco advertising in regions where it is not already banned,' the researchers stated.
Health experts say the government’s move represents a key part of anti- smoking policies, which authorities here have gradually implemented.
Cambodia has set up an inter-ministerial committee to advise the government on anti-smoking measures. Certain government ministries have also placed restrictions on smoking within the workplace. Even Cambodia’s prime minister has pledged to cut back on his own smoking.
'I think the government is working hard to reduce smoking,' said Yel Daravuth, the tobacco health adviser with the World Health Organisation (WHO) country office in Cambodia. Ending tobacco advertising would also bring Cambodia in line with neighbouring countries that have already implemented similar bans, Yel said.
'We can see Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Singapore have already banned advertising,' he said. 'You can see that a ban on advertising is one of the core articles of the FCTC. Advertising can make some people start to smoke, and it can lead to smokers continuing to smoke.'
Estimates for smoking rates in Cambodia vary. But the various studies suggest that the prevalence rate among male smokers in Cambodia is one of the highest in the South-east Asian region. Nearly half — 49 percent — of Cambodian males older than 15 smoke tobacco, according to the WHO’s yearly compilation of global health data, ‘The World Health Statistics 2010’. The prevalence rate in Laos is 64 percent; in Vietnam, 44 per cent; and in Thailand, roughly 43 percent.
Industry officials in Cambodia say they have been preparing for sweeping new regulations banning tobacco advertising and that they support the government’s move.
'We believe that banning tobacco advertising on TV, radio and billboards, as well as sponsoring concerts — all of those big mass media where you cannot control the access of underage people — we fully support those kinds of laws,' said Kun Lim, the head of corporate and regulatory affairs for British American Tobacco in Cambodia.
However, he said tobacco companies should still be allowed to advertise at corner stores and other places where cigarettes are sold.
'We still believe that cigarettes are a legitimate, legal product and we should have enough reasonable freedoms to communicate with clients at points-of- sale,' he said. 'That is a fundamental right we should protect.'
Though health advocates say Cambodian authorities have taken positive steps in their efforts to reduce tobacco consumption, measures beyond a wide- reaching advertising ban will still be necessary.
Mark Schwisow, country director of the international NGO Adventist Development and Relief Agency, encouraged the government to make it more difficult for people to smoke. He recommended boosting taxes on cigarettes to make smoking more costly. At the moment, one popular locally produced brand sells for just 30 U.S. cents a pack.
The government should also create more smoke-free areas in public places, Schwisow said.
'It would reduce access to smoking and act as a deterrent,' he said. 'The main benefit is reducing the convenience of smoking.'
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service