The enforcement of the present legislation concerning the complete ban of smoking in public places and at worksites and the sale of single cigarette stick will be strengthened, said the Minister of Health and Quality of life, Mr Lormus Bundhoo, yesterday at La Cannelle, Domaine Les Pailles. He made this statement at the opening of a dissemination workshop on ‘International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Wave 3 Mauritius Survey’ in the context of the World No Tobacco Day 2012.
The Minister pointed out that the strategy to reduce tobacco use is very much on Government agenda. On that score, he recalled that Mauritius has ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004 and has promulgated the Public Health (Restrictions on Tobacco Products) Regulations 2008 which came fully in force on 1st June 2009. The sale of tobacco to minors and by minors as well as the misleading display of tar and nicotine content or carbon monoxide yield on packs have been banned and measures to reduce the illicit trade of cigarettes have been reinforced. A new set of pictorial warnings on cigarette packages is under preparation.
Mauritius has one of the best pieces of tobacco legislation in the world, said the Minister. “Mauritius is the first African country to implement graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. Mauritius is known to have strong tobacco control policies and our country is serving as a model in tobacco control not only to Africa but to the whole world”, he said.
According to Mr Bundhoo, young persons are all potential customers for the tobacco industry so priority should be given for anti-smoking interventions to be directed towards this very vulnerable group. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2008 indicates that 20.3% of school boys and 7.7% of school girls aged 13 to 15 years are current smokers. The Non-Communicable Diseases survey carried out in 2009 revealed that 3.7% of women and 40.3% of men aged 25-74 years are current smokers.
The gradual decline in the number of tobacco sticks imported in Mauritius shows that the anti-tobacco measures implemented have been successful, said the Minister. From 2009 to 2011, there has been a drop of more than 300 million of imported cigarette sticks. He reiterated his commitment to make Mauritius a smoke-free country, adding that the findings of the ITC Wave 3 survey will help the Ministry to come up with new strategies in its fight against tobacco use.
ITC Wave 3 Survey
According to the survey which was conducted from 20 June to 11 July 2011, the majority of smokers in Mauritius has negative views on smoking and has expressed the wish to quit. 87% of them regretted taking up smoking. The survey further shows that smoke-free legislation and pictorial health warnings have been successful in getting smokers to think about health risks of smoking and to think about quitting. 84% of smokers expressed concern about effects of cigarette smoke on non-smokers and 62% cited health warnings on cigarette packs informing them about health risks.
The findings also reveal that there is very strong support among smokers and non-smokers for comprehensive smoke-free policies in all public places. 55% of smokers support smoking restrictions in public places. It shows that the promotion of public awareness on dangers of smoking and benefits of cessation has been effective in Mauritius. According to the findings, warnings on cigarette packs are the most common source of anti-smoking information available to nearly all smokers. Overall, anti-smoking messages are highly visible in Mauritius. 97% of smokers noticed anti-smoking messages on cigarette packs, 79% on television, 72% on radio and 67% on posters. Measures to limit illicit trade in Mauritius have also been effective.
As reported in the survey, cigarettes remain highly affordable in Mauritius. It has also shown that there is evidence of a decline in effectiveness of the present pictorial warnings. 24% of smokers in Wave 3 as compared to 25% in Wave 2 indicated that pictorial warnings made them more likely to quit smoking. Compliance is low as far as the ban on the sale of single cigarette stick is concerned. However, it still easy to buy singles in Mauritius with 29% of smokers reported to have purchased single cigarette stick.
World No Tobacco Day
‘Tobacco industry interference’ is the theme chosen by WHO for the World No Tobacco Day 2012.The focus is on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry's increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control because of the serious public health hazard.
Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. It is expected that smoking will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80% will live in low- and middle-income countries. In Mauritius, it is estimated that tobacco causes 1 000 deaths every year.
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