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View all search resultsIndonesia faces triple health burden: COVID-19, TB and smoking
In Bali and other tourist destinations, thousands of locals and visitors alike frequently violate smoking regulations and health protocols during the pandemic.
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I
nto the second year of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia is still grappling with two other public health emergencies: smoking and tuberculosis (TB).
Despite government and public health experts’ advice saying smokers may be at risk of more severe COVID-19 symptoms, they continue to light up their cigarettes and tobacco-related products at alarming levels.
The smoking rate among Indonesians is currently embarrassingly high. As many as 61 million Indonesians smoke, of whom 67.4 percent are male and 4.5 percent women.
This disturbing number of active Indonesian smokers was confirmed by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin during a virtual conference titled, Our Shared Responsibility: Ending Epidemics — Smoking and COVID-19 in Indonesia.
The virtual conference was jointly cohosted by the Health Ministry, Home Ministry, the Association of All Indonesian Health Offices (ADINKES) and Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT) on March 16.
“Tobacco smoking rates have increased by 1 percent in Indonesia during the pandemic, despite health advice and information on the adverse impacts of the virus on smokers,” the minister said his keynote speech.
Alarmingly, the prevalence of smoking among the youth increased from 7.2 percent in 2013 to 9.1 percent in 2018, according to the Health Ministry’s Basic Health Survey (Riskesdas).
