HEALTH Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has asked all parties to support efforts to ensure the Control of Smoking Products for Public Heath Bill 2023 can be tabled in parliament at its next sitting.

She said the issue needs to be taken seriously due to the smoking habit, especially the increasing use of electronic cigarettes and vaping, which is contributing to the increase in the burden of diseases in the country.

“The Health Ministry has tried to bring the Control of Smoking Product for Public Health Bill 2023 to parliament. It is hoped that through this legislative measure, known as the Generational Endgame, a generation of young Malaysians involving teenagers born on January 1, 2007 onwards will be free from any form of smoking habits.

“Tobacco control measures that are carried out require support from all levels of society. Smokers or their family members and friends should take this opportunity to get help through smoking cessation programmes,” she said.

She said this in the text of her speech which was read out by her deputy Lukanisman Awang Sauni at the launch ceremony of the national-level World No-Tobacco Day in Kota Kinabalu today.

Zaliha said Malaysia is witnessing an increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) cases with the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey report showing 5.1 million people have two or three major risk factors for cardiovascular or heart disease, the main contributor to deaths in Malaysia.

“NCDs can actually be prevented through the culture of a healthy lifestyle, which includes not smoking. This survey also shows it is estimated more than 27,200 deaths every year in this country are due to smoking.

“The prevalence of smokers in the adult group is 21.3% of the population with an estimated 4.8 million smokers. This group of smokers exposes passive cigarette smoke to the majority of the public who are non-smokers thus exposing the risk to various chronic diseases,” she added.

She added that her ministry also paid attention to the increasing trend in the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping, which has a prevalence of 4.9% or equivalent to 1.13 million users among adults.

She said a youth health survey involving young people aged 13-17 showed an increase in electronic cigarette users from 211,084 people in 2017 to 301,109 people in 2022.

“This has not taken into account the use of conventional cigarettes involving this group of teenagers, which is a total of 186,817 people in 2022. The data shared is a real scenario that demands concern and joint action from all parties.

“It is to curb and reject any form of smoking habit in our country towards achieving the Generational Endgame goal with the prevalence of the smoking habit being less than 5% and Malaysia becoming a smoke-free country by the year 2040,” she said. – Bernama, June 25, 2023.