Impact of Government's Anti-smoking Campaign on Youth Smoking

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Health (a) what has been the impact of the Government's anti-smoking campaign over the past three years; (b) how many smokers have given up smoking during this period; (c) how has the campaign prevented young people from taking up the habit; and (d) whether the Ministry has plans to increase the minimum age for buying cigarettes.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: As a result of our long-term tobacco control programme, smoking rates among those aged 18 to 69 years have decreased from 18.3% in 1992 to 13.3% in 2013, based on National Health Survey data. However, over the past three years, smoking rates seemed to have stayed at about 13%. Of concern is also the relatively high smoking rate among our men where nearly one in four smoke (23.1%). We need to do more.

To discourage smoking, we have adopted a multi-pronged approach on tobacco control and public education. HPB has expanded its outreach to help smokers to quit. The number of smokers who took part in HPB’s smoking cessation programmes has more than doubled from about 6,000 in 2013 to about 15,000 in 2016.

For youths, we focus on preventing initiation and helping young smokers to stop smoking. HPB works with educators and community organisations to promote smoke-free living among our youth. For example, smoking cessation training workshops are conducted for educators and youth workers to equip them with the skills and strategies to help youth smokers quit the habit. In addition, anti-tobacco messages are incorporated into the curriculum and Student Health Advisors (SHAs) are stationed in some schools to provide counselling to youth smokers.

We need to sustain our efforts to discourage smoking. We are constantly studying various tobacco control initiatives and learning from the experiences of other countries, and will consider adopting suitable measures here, including the possibility of increasing the minimum age for buying cigarettes.