UNAIR NEWS – In the process of tobacco or cigarette control, youth are encouraged to participate actively in voicing facts about cigarette industry. It was one of the goals of youth discussion on the issue of tobacco or cigarettes in Tobacco Free Youth Bootcamp.
Tobacco Free Youth Bootcamp is one of the activities in the 2018 Tobacco National Conference entitled The 5th Indonesian Conference on Tobacco or Health (ICTOH) 2018. The activity was held in collaboration with TCSC (Tobacco Control Support Center) and the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) Universitas Airlangga at Hotel Bumi Surabaya on Sunday, May 6.
In Tobacco Free Youth Bootcamp, materials and panel discussions were held. There was also a group discussion, role play, and quiz.
In her speech, Head of TCSC Association of Indonesian Public Health Experts (IAKMI) Dr. Sumarjati Arjoso, SKM., said that the number of new smokers in Indonesia has reached 3.9 million per year with 17.3% prevalence in vulnerable age range, 10-14 years old. It has reached the number of 12.5 million per year new smokers with a prevalence of 59.9% in the age range 15-19 years.
The member of the House of Representatives (2009-2014) revealed that cigarettes have contributed to the death of the Indonesian population up to 240,000 people per day. One of the causes is the deceptive cigarette advertising.
“In advertisements, men who smokes are shown to be muscular, handsome, stylish, and loved by women. However, the reality actually brings disease, heart attack, and cancer, ” she said.
Meanwhile, Tobacco Free Youth Bootcamp is a venue for youngsters, students, and the general public, with age range 15-30 years old, to participate in tobacco control efforts.
The forum was also one of the actions to incite the fighting spirit of the youth against the aggressiveness of the tobacco industry. The theme raised in the forum is “Not Only to Understand, We Refuse to Remain Silent”.
The theme was chosen as an effort to encourage the youths to increasingly participate and actively voiced the truth from the cigarette industry. The theme was about strategies and actions that can be done by the youth in the fight against cigarette industry especially through tobacco product advertising and to control tobacco in the community.
Dr. Rohani Budi Prihatin, M.Si. of DPR RI R&D division, said that Indonesia is quite extreme. Cigarettes have become second basic necessities after rice. Eggs still occupy the position to-9.
“And, even more strange, the third basic requirement is the mobile phone credit. This peculiarity only exists in Indonesia, ” she said.
Another speaker, Hasna Pradityas (Founder of Smoke-Free Agent) discussed the issue of “Youth role on tobacco control”. Widya Nindy Nastiti (FCTC Indonesia) spoke about “FCTC for Indonesia (Advocacy)”. Aryo Moedanton (Founder of anakmuda.net) spoke about “Strategic campaign for social movement”.
“The framework for creating an Effective Campaign is 6M (Mission, Market, Message, Media, Money, and Measurable). One example of the success of the campaign is Corporate Tobacco Man (CTM) from USA, “said Aryo. (*)
Author: Siti Mufaidah
Editor: Feri Fenoria Rifai
