VIDEO: A tobacco-free Tshwane can be a reality – MMC
Over 7 million people perish annually due to smoking and most die as a result of direct tobacco use, while 890 000 die due to exposure to people who smoke.
A tobacco-free Pretoria and smoke-free generation cognisant of the harms associated with tobacco can only start at grassroots, the Tshwane MMC for health has said.
Sakkie du Plooy recently told a tobacco-free generation workshop led by Filipino and world-renowned doctor Heng Nung Koong that about seven million people died annually due to smoking while 890 000 died due to secondhand smoke.
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Du Plooy said the city was looking to intensify its bid to rid Pretoria of the harms of smoking.
Koong said he had envisioned a tobacco-free generation after seeing the harmful effects and the toll years of smoking had on his patients.
He said it was important to target the millennials to achieve the smoke-free generation goal.
He said the approach should be by restricting the sale of cigarettes to children born since the year 2000.
“This initiative is meant to turn the tide and show the youth that smoking is an uncool habit,” said Koong.
Koong said he hoped to spread the idea across borders to start a worldwide movement of a tobacco-free generation.
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