Ministry Of Health: Effective Cigarette Excise Increase Reduce Consumption, Focus On Protecting Children And Youth

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) said that the experience of various countries showing an increase in cigarette excise was able to reduce cigarette consumption by 10-15 percent. The policy of increasing the Retail Selling Price (HJE) of e-cigarettes and tobacco processed products is expected to hinder the access of young smokers to cigarettes.

"The prevalence of smoking in Indonesia decreased, especially in adolescents aged 10-18 years, from 9.1 percent in 2018 to 7.4 percent in 2023. For ages 10 years and over, the prevalence fell from 28.9 percent in 2018 to 27.1 percent in 2023," said the Ministry of Health's Director of Prevention and Control. Infectious Diseases (P2PTM), Siti Nadia Tarmizi, Tuesday, December 17.

However, Siti Nadia emphasized the need for a multi-sectoral approach because fiscal policies, such as an increase in excise, are not effective enough without the support of non-fiscal measures.

Smoking, said Siti Nadia, is one of the main risk factors for Infectious Diseases (PTM) that is difficult to stop. Therefore, it is necessary to have preventive measures that focus on children and adolescents. "The risk of health for active and passive smokers is the same. Therefore, we need to prevent smoking from an early age, especially in children and teenagers," said Nadia.

One of the efforts made is to regulate health messages on cigarette packaging, which has been regulated in Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health and its implementation regulations through Government Regulation Number 28 of 2024.

In addition, Nadia highlighted the importance of implementing measures such as non-smoking areas in schools and children's playgrounds, banning the sale of bars, banning cigarette advertisements within a radius of 500 meters from educational places and children's playgrounds and banning the sale of cigarettes within a radius of 200 meters from educational places or children's playgrounds.

"Parents must also understand the shape and dangers of e-cigarettes in order to prevent their children from using them, because these cigarettes have different shapes compared to conventional cigarettes," he added.

Siti Nadia also encourages people to shift spending on cigarettes to other needs that are more useful, such as nutritious food for families.

"Remember, one cigarette is equivalent to one egg. It is better if the money is used to buy protein food for the family," he said.

Quoted from a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2018 there were 38 countries that implemented high cigarette taxes as a measure to control consumption.

A WHO study in 2016 showed that cigarette consumption in China decreased by 3.3 percent in the period April 2015-March 2016 following the increase in cigarette taxes.

Meanwhile in Colombia, cigarette consumption decreased by 34 percent in 2018 after the government raised the cigarette tax three times from 2016-2018. This tax has continued to increase since 2019 and has had a positive impact in the form of increasing state revenues used to fund the health insurance of the universe.

"With a multi-sectoral approach and the right fiscal policy, we are optimistic that we can protect the younger generation and reduce the prevalence of smoking in Indonesia," concluded Siti Nadia.