Vapeboss – One of the government's efforts to reduce smoking prevalence is through an economic approach strategy in the form of excise tax increases. Unfortunately, according to Satria Aji Imawan, a Public Policy Observer from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), this strategy is less effective because the purchasing power for cigarettes remains high.

"There is a need for social intervention that can change the habits of these smokers with social incentives rather than economic ones," said Satria.

He added that the government needs to conduct research to obtain data on the cause-and-effect of smokers continuing to buy cigarettes despite price and excise tax increases. Then, based on these findings, discussions should be held with stakeholders to determine the appropriate strategy.

For Satria, strategies to reduce smoking prevalence can be carried out massively and persuasively. Massive in the sense of utilizing conventional and online media. Persuasive, on the other hand, is lighter in nature.

"These social approaches are important as a complement to the economic approaches often taken by the government so far, not dictating and involving many creators so that campaigns are more about encouraging than prohibiting," he emphasized.

Recently, the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) 2022, held online from Warsaw, Poland, discussed alternative tobacco products as an aid to quitting smoking for adult smokers.

Under the theme "Misinformation: who can we trust?", one of the speakers invited to the discussion was Cother Hajat, a public health doctor and epidemiologist, as well as a member of the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty of Public Health in the UK.

Cother Hajat stated that alternative tobacco products are more effective in reducing smoking prevalence. As an example, Sweden successfully reduced smoking prevalence to 5 percent through alternative tobacco products.

"Sweden has shown that through regulation, alternative tobacco products have minimized harm," said Cother.

Therefore, Cother supports the use of alternative tobacco products to help countries struggling to reduce the number of smokers.

Source: SindoNews