T

he Health Ministry has officially launched a new public service announcement video on the dangers of secondhand smoke in coordination with the World Lung Foundation. The video is a response to the high number of passive smokers in Indonesia.

'€œThe number of smokers in Indonesia has now reached 53.7 million people. We are trying to make a campaign to raise public awareness on the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke,'€ said the ministry'€™s secretary-general, Untung Suseno Sutarjo, in a press conference on Friday.

The 30-second public service announcement showed a woman suffering from cancer identified as Ike Wijayanti, 37, who contracted the disease after a decade of secondhand smoke exposure in her workplace.

She spoke with difficulty in front of the camera, urging the public not to smoke. The video began airing on television and radio stations on May 17, as well as on the video sharing website YouTube.

'€œWe should have made 20 to 30 more of these. The airing of one public announcement might not mean much,'€ Untung said.

Data from the 2010 Basic Health Research report (Riskesdas) showed that 95 million people in Indonesia had been exposed to secondhand smoke, with 40.3 million of these people being less than 14 years old.

Data from the Health Ministry also stated that exposure to secondhand smoke increased the risk of contracting lung cancer by 30 percent and coronary heart disease by 25 percent.