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National scene: Rampant smoking hampers TB eradication
JAKARTA: The smoking habits of Indonesians has hampered the governmentâs effort to eradicate tuberculosis (TB), which causes 100,000 deaths in the country every year
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AKARTA: The smoking habits of Indonesians has hampered the government's effort to eradicate tuberculosis (TB), which causes 100,000 deaths in the country every year.
Health Ministry TB program manager Asik Surya said smoking weakened the immune systems of human bodies, making it difficult for smokers to be cured of TB. 'Smoking has been perceived as cultural [among Indonesians], so it is our concern to lessen that,' Asik said during a discussion during World Tuberculosis Day on Thursday.
If the government succeeds in reducing the number of smokers, then it will be easier to eradicate TB, according to Asik.
'Not only TB, but also other diseases like cancer. There is so much more that we can do [in terms of eradicating diseases] if we can reduce the number of smokers because smoking means that we are ingesting poison slowly,' he said.
