In Turkey and Uruguay, Number of Smokers Down but High Tobacco Production

Assumption about the accession Framework on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will harm tobacco farmers often exhaled by industry players. Yet the reality is not like that. Abdillah Ahsan, Deputy Head of the Institute of Demography, University of Indonesia, said that the results of research done last year showed different results. Turkey and Uruguay for example, is able to reduce the prevalence of tobacco smokers, but production is still high. "The prevalence of smokers Turkey before the treaty was 34.6 percent down to 31.5 after the FCTC. While Uruguay fell 5.7 percent from 32.7 to 27 percent after the accession treaty," said Abdillah on meeting reporters at the Indonesian Doctors Association NT , Jl GSSY Sam Ratulangie, Menteng, Central Jakarta, Thursday (09/10/2014). Not only the prevalence is down. The number of smokers in both countries also declined. In Turkey, the number of smokers fell 2 percent after the accession treaty. While Uruguay fell more significantly, which is 16 percent. Abdillah confirms that these two did not have a direct impact on tobacco production in both countries. The growth of production in Uruguay even increased up to 131 percent! "In 2002 Uruguay's tobacco production is only 2,200 tons. Upon accession treaty in 10 years, the production of 4,247 tons, an increase of 131 percent. So it is not unreasonable that the accession treaty affect the farmers," he explained again. Abdillah explained that this research has been published in the journal Demography UI. The data presented in this study were taken from the data of international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. Surely, this proves that the public health service can be done by acceding to the FCTC. At the same time, the protection of tobacco farmers can also be done simultaneously. "So this is a complementary nature, can in unison. Substitution aka not influence each other," he added. "Accession FCTC first, lower prevalence and number of smokers first, and at the same time for proper regulation of tobacco farmers to increase productivity while reducing tobacco imports and increase exports," he concluded. latest health information can be found in http://ukdi.net