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Yogyakarta. Health officials are hoping to cut back the number of Yogyakarta’s smokers by 5 percent with a new consultation program to be offered at community health centers across the city.

“Since [the program] was officially launched in November 2009, one or two smokers have been attending the consultation clinic for smoking cessation every day. But we aim to help 5 percent of the city’s smokers to quit,” Choirul Anwar, the head of Yogyakarta’s health office, said on Sunday.

He said though the number of people who come to the clinic was small, he was confident that word of mouth would spread after successful patients tell their stories to other smokers.

“The program goes against the current, against the multitude of cigarette commercials, but the program will continue,” he said.

Anwar said that over time the number of smokers who joined the program would increase exponentially as smokers grew aware of the potential health hazards they faced if they continued their habit.

The provincial government launched up to 18 cigarette cessation clinics at city community health centers across the city during an event to commemorate National Health Day on Dec. 11.

“The clinic is the answer for smokers who wish to quit but don’t know how,” Anwar said.

The province passed a bylaw on air pollution in 2007 that had provision restricting smoking to certain areas. That law was followed by a special gubernatorial decree on smoking areas. Following the signing of that regulation, legislators hoped to expand the implementation of such regulations to other municipalities and districts.

A study of 53 households with smokers in several villages conducted by the Gadjah Mada University School of Medicine in 2009 revealed that non-smoking women and 89 percent of children under the age of 5 were exposed to serious health risks due to second-hand smoke in the home.

The research also revealed that 89 percent of active smokers wanted to stop, but most did not know how.

Data from the Tobacco Control Support Center and the Association of Public Health of Indonesia in 2008 indicated that the nation is the third largest consumer of cigarettes in the world after China and India.

In 2004, the number of 15-year-old smokers had increased to 34.4 percent from 31.5 percent in 2001. The highest increase was in the number of female smokers, which rose from 1.3 percent to 4.5 percent in 2001-04. In the 15 to 19 age group, numbers rose ninefold from 0.2 percent to 1.9 percent.



Antara