JAKARTA - The Head of Public Education and Community Empowerment of the National Tobacco Control Commission, Rita Damayanti, said that smoking is one of the factors causing hypertension.
"Smoking is one of the factors of hypertension and in the end it is a deadly disease, such as heart attack and stroke," he said at the press conference for World Hypertension Day 2022: Controlling PTM Risk Factors for a Healthier Indonesia which was attended in Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, May 18.
It was noted that the 2018 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) showed the prevalence of hypertension in the adult population in Indonesia was 34.11 percent, an increase from the previous 25.8 percent in 2013.
Therefore, the distribution of cigarettes must be controlled considering that Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest percentage of adult smokers in the world and child smokers which continue to grow significantly.
According to him, this condition can eventually lead to worse health complications. This condition is exacerbated by the prevalence of cigarette consumption in the population over 15 years of age in the country which reaches 66 percent and the prevalence of smokers in the 10-14 year age group which is 3.5 percent (Tobacco Atlas).
In addition, he continued, the consumption of cigarettes by adults or parents will also affect children's nutrition, causing stunting.
"Adults' high consumption of cigarettes makes them buy minimally nutritious food, thus causing stunting," he said.
To prevent non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, he continued, there is no other way, other than avoiding the risk factors.
"This effort is not enough just to promote and educate on health, there must be a comprehensive policy that regulates it," he said.
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