In Singapore, tobacco kills about 2500 smokers each year. Even though the overall smoking rate has stabilized at 13 percent for the Singapore context, it does not compare well with the likes of other developed countries like Sweden and Australia.
There are different measures in place to try and get the public to know the harms of smoking and programs have been rolled out by the Health Promotion Board to schools in an effort to stub out smoking among the young population within educational institutions.
“People who do not start smoking by the age of 21 or 25 are unlikely to start smoking in their later years,” says Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
Media Coverage:
- ‘Singapore Tonight’, Channel News Asia, 22 Feb 2017