Ministry Of Health Calls For Prohibition Of Selling Cigarettes To Under 21 Years Old

Illustration of smokers or cigarettes. (Andreas Nast-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) invites the collaboration of all parties to implement the prohibition of selling cigarettes to those aged less than 21 years and the application of non-smoking areas (KTR).

Director of Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that there are many rules related to tobacco and electronic cigarettes control in Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 28 of 2024 concerning Implementation Regulations of Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health which can be directly implemented.

"We are in the process of the PP, indeed not everything can be carried out immediately, but there are several things that we can certainly do directly. For example, advertising control, ban on additional materials. The ban on selling cigarettes is less than 21 years old, but there are still those who sell it," he said at the Indonesian Youth Council for Tactical Changes press conference. followed online in Jakarta, Thursday 17 July, confiscated by Antara.

The regulation also stipulates the prohibition of selling and advertising tobacco products within a radius of 200 meters from educational units and children's playgrounds as well as the creation of non-smoking areas including health service locations, schools, places of worship, public transportation and other public places.

"This just needs to be implemented, there are no special rules but there are indeed some, for example, PHW (Pictorial Health Warning) arrangements that we are still in the process of, continuously getting input. Then other things about regulating how much nicotine and tar contain," he explained.

The implementation was encouraged considering the percentage of smokers over the age of 15. The year continues to increase every year. Although the prevalence rate has decreased, due to the increase in the number of people, the total number of individuals has increased.

From the data compiled by the Ministry of Health, the number in 2013 reached 57.2 million which then increased to 63.1 million people.

Meanwhile, the number of child and adolescent smokers, namely individuals aged 10-18 years, has also increased, from around 2 million people in 2013 to 5.9 million in 2023.