KOTA KINABALU: The increase in non-communicable diseases (NCD) as well as rising trends of smoking ecigarettes among the youth is a clear sign to support government initiatives to control smoking products and the Generational Endgame (GEG) Bill.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said according to a 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey, some 5.1 million Malaysians have two or three risk factors for cardiovascular or heart diseases, which was also the main cause of death in the country.
She said NCDs can be prevented through healthy lifestyles which includes not smoking cigarettes or tobacco products.
"This survey also suggested that over 27,200 annual deaths in the country are due to smoking," she said during her speech when launching the national No Tobacco Day here at the Padang Merdeka on Sunday (June 25).
Her speech was read out by Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
Dr Zaliha said the prevalence of adult smokers was 21.3% or 4.8 million of the total national population, and these smokers pose health hazards to non-smokers through passive smoke inhalation, thus exposing health risks to these people.
"The Health Ministry is also noticing a trend of vaping among youth, whereby those between the ages of 13 and 17 involved in ecigarettes have risen from 211,084 people in 2017 to 301,109 in 2022," she said.
She said teens involved in conventional smoking totalled 186,817 people in 2022.
Dr Zaliha said this data clearly indicates the need for all parties to support the government’s initiative to rid the nation of smoke by 2040 and to support the Generational Endgame (GEG) Bill.
She said this was also why the Health Ministry was trying so hard to push for the tabling of this Bill multiple times in Parliament, as well as the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023.
She hoped that this Bill could be tabled in the next Parliament sitting.
The GEG bill seeks to ban the use, possession and sale of cigarettes and vape products for those born after Jan 1, 2007, among other things.
Dr Zaliha said this initiative could only work with the full support from all stakeholders.
Earlier in the event, she said that the No Tobacco Day programme was to educate the public on the dangers and health hazards of smoking any form of cigarettes.
She said this programme themed, "Prioritise food, not cigarette, for health" was also to help non-smokers voice out their rights to not being affected by cigarette or ecigarette smoke and assist smokers to quit this bad habit.
