Stop Smoking! Hundreds Of Thousands Of Children Died Because Of Cigarettes

Moment of Student Ambassadors for Non-Smoking Areas placing cigarette advertisement banners in the Non-Smoking Area (KTR) in one of the schools in Makassar City

MAKASSAR - 235 thousand children have to lose due to the harmful effects of cigarette smoke every year in Indonesia.

This data was presented by Istiqomatul Hayati, a Tempo journalist. According to him, the role of the media plays an important role in educating children and the public not to smoke cigarettes

"Every year, cigarette users continue to increase, based on basic health research data, it was recorded that in 2018 our total number of smokers became 65.7 people and made us perched on the third place in the world after China and India," said Istiqomatul Hayati speaking regarding the Non-Smoking Area in the City. Makassar online, Wednesday, May 25.

The prevalence of smokers in adolescents aged 15 years and over in Indonesia continues to increase, recorded at 29 percent in 2021. For the city of Makassar itself, it reached 51 percent in 2018 at the age of 15-19 years. Meanwhile, in 2019 for students, it was 61 percent.

"There are several reasons why cigarette users in Indonesia, including Makassar, are quite high, including the low price of our cigarettes and the not yet maximal implementation of the Perda KTR," he continued.

Moment of Student Ambassadors for Non-Smoking Areas placing cigarette advertisement banners in the Non-Smoking Area (KTR) in one of the schools in Makassar City

According to him, in Indonesia, there are 375 regencies and cities that have made regulations, 15 of them were produced during the pandemic and there are 147 more regions that have not made KTR regulations," said Istiqomatul.

The reason, said Istiqomatul, is that there are still regions that are 'reluctant' to make KTR regulations.

While the Makassar City Government has issued a regional regulation related to Non-Smoking Areas (KTR) in 2013. However, it has not been effective due to weak supervision and enforcement.

Meanwhile, Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health Section of the Makassar Health Service, Adi Novrisa Perdana, said that smoking is a source of dangerous diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease (PTM).

"So if someone thinks that cigarettes are a source of income, it can be disputed because in the short term, yes, it can produce but in the long term it will have a negative impact on health," he said.