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View all search resultsIs nicotine the magic bullet to help end the smoking epidemic?
Policy debates around tobacco control objectives are framed increasingly in terms of nicotine elimination rather than eliminating harmful exposure to smoke.
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A woman checks her vaping pod after buying e-liquid pods at Vape Kajay store in Jodoh, Batam city, Riau Islands, on Aug. 26, 2025. (JP/Fadli)
W
hile good progress has been made under the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), smoking still causes more than 7 million deaths globally each year, and declines in prevalence are slowing in many high-burden countries, including Indonesia.
While the overall smoking prevalence rate in Indonesia is around 34-39 percent, the country has an estimated 70 million active smokers, representing 38.7 percent of people aged 15 and above.
The crisis is heavily driven by male smokers, with estimates indicating that 70.5 percent of adult men smoke, which is often cited as the highest male smoking rate globally. The country sees nearly 300,000 deaths annually linked to smoking-related chronic diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases and diabetes.
What can be done to address this problem in the future?
What strategies are needed to help deal with the smoking epidemic and help achieve a Healthy Indonesia 2045 as part of the Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision, which aims to create a productive, high-income nation by strengthening human capital, targeting a 75.4-year life expectancy?
Complementing established approaches to smoking cessation such as nicotine replacement therapies, quit lines and counseling, newer approaches based on non-combustible, smoke-free nicotine products have given us another powerful tool to end the smoking epidemic.
These products include electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products and, more recently, nicotine pouches. Robust scientific evidence from around the world, including from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, have shown these products to be 90-95 percent less harmful than combustible cigarettes and to be effective in helping adults quit smoking.
