Last week the country joins the world to mark no-tobacco day. It’s a day set aside to look at the impact of tobacco use around globe.
According to statistics tobacco use is the world’s leading preventable cause of death, killing nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.
If no action is taken, tobacco will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030, more than 80 per cent of them among people living in low- and middle-income countries.
Today, someone dies from tobacco use every six seconds, it was noted. Tobacco kills up to half of its users. It also incurs considerable costs for families, businesses and governments.
In Solomon Islands, more people are ignoring the health advice against smoking and seems to enjoy smoking without realising the impact it would have on their health later on in life.
Along the streets, at home, in buses, at stadium, ships and everywhere, you will see people smoking without any care for themselves or those surrounding them.
Many mothers and children are affected by bus drivers and conductors who continue to ignore their passengers and smoke while providing services.
It is those people who should be punished for doing such a thing while providing service for the public.
Smoking and tobacco is a problem that will continue to affect this nation in the years to come unless something more concrete is done to curb this problem.
Today from young and old, they are all smoking. And it’s a sad sight to see a lot of young students smoking at an early age.
Through peer pressure and this notion of ‘wanna be somebody’ had led many young boys and girls into smoking.
And it is ripping off their money and health while shortening their life span.
More awareness on smoking should be promoted more than ever in this country, given the increase rate of smokers this nation continues to experience.
And one of the solutions the United Nations health agency is proposing inorder to reduce people to smoke is to raise taxes on tobacco to encourage users to stop and prevent other people from becoming addicted to tobacco and cigarette.
Its believed that high prices are particularly effective in discouraging young people – who have more limited incomes than older adults – from taking up smoking.
They also encourage existing young smokers to either reduce their use of tobacco or quit altogether.
This is a good move which needs to enacted and implemented by a country like Solomon Islands so that prices of cigarette and tobacco doubled their normal price.
This country must do something to reduce this unhealthy country in our country because failure to do will see more work force of this country dying of lung cancer.
Whatever laws that are there to reduce smoking in the public spots should now be implemented.
Its better to start act now than being sorry later.
