Tonga launches hard-hitting campaign to reduce smoking around kids

1st June, 2016 The Ministry of Health launched a hard-hitting campaign highlighting the dangers of smoking around children on World No Tobacco Day this yesterday. 

Tuku Ifi Leva (Quit Smoking Now) will run for six weeks on TV, radio, press and Facebook throughout the Kingdom of Tonga, commencing 31^st of May 2016. The campaign, adapted specifically for Tonga, graphically shows the risks of tobacco use and the impact of deadly second hand smoke on children.

With 46% of men and 13% of women smoking, tobacco use in Tonga is among the highest in the world. Up to half of these men and women can be expected to die as a direct result of their smoking habits. Many more Tongans, including children and adults affected by secondhand smoke, will be left disabled by cancers, diseases, infections, asthma and other serious health complications caused by tobacco use.

Smokers motivated to quit by the campaign can receive advice and support from fully trained Ministry of Health staff through a newly established toll-free Quitline (0800 333).

Supporting campaign materials will also highlight Tonga’s new tobacco laws, which make a variety of public places such a bars, restaurants, markets, schools and kava clubs fully smoke free environments to protect the health of the public. The Ministry of Health’s Tobacco Control Unit will work with Tonga Police to deliver an enforcement blitz during the campaign to reinforce these important new laws.

The Tuku Ifi Leva campaign is delivered as part of The Tonga National Strategy to Prevent and Control Non-Communicable Disease 2015-2020 (The National NCD Strategy). The National NCD Strategy is based on the best practice principles for tobacco control outlined in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by Tonga in 2005.

Ongoing delivery of the National NCD Strategy, including the Tuku Ifi Leva campaign, is made possible through the support of the Australian Government, the Tonga Health Promotion Foundation (TongaHealth), and the World Health Organization.

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Issued from the Ministry of Health. For more information contact Dr ‘Ofa Tukia, Medical Officer in Charge, NCD/Health Promotion Unit, Ministry of Health, Vaiola Hospital Email: o.tukia@gmail.com Phone: 23200 ext 1219

To access a Press Kit available to media outlets reporting on the Tuku Ifi Leva campaign, please visit: wwww.TapuIfiTonga.com