ID :
243622
Tue, 06/12/2012 - 04:13
Auther :

Many Indonesians Still Doubt Smoking Bad For Health

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, June 12 (Bernama) -- Authorities in Indonesia are facing a problem in implementing anti-smoking programmes, partly because many people still refuse to believe that smoking is bad for health. Health Ministry director-general for environmental health and disease control, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said smoking had even become a culture for some of the people and the habit had nothing to do with their economic or working conditions. He said many low-income people smoked and the amount of money they spent on cigarettes exceeded the US$31,517.90 (Rp100,000) in monthly aid they received from the government. "There are still people out there who doubt the scientific evidence regarding the negative impacts of smoking for health, saying 'a chain smoker in my village is still alive at 97 years of age'," he was quoted by English daily Jakarta Globe as saying Monday. Tjandra said that to overcome the problem, anti-smoking programmes should be conducted based on strong scientific evidence on the impact of smoking on health, economic and social conditions. The report quoted a University of Indonesia Demographic Institute study in 2009 which showed that 57 per cent of the poorest households in Indonesia spent part of their income on cigarettes. -- BERNAMA

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