• March 29, 2024

Anti-smoking campaigns have rural aims

Cigarette sales in Sri Lanka have gone down by 7 percent during the past several months due to the government’s efforts at discouraging smoking, according to a Daily News story quoting Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena.

And now the ministry is waiting on a court judgement that is expected to give it the go-ahead to require the imposition of graphic health warnings taking up 80 percent of cigarette-pack surfaces.
“Thailand has already implemented 85 percent of pictorial warning coverage on cigarette packets,” the minister said.

Sirisena is keen that anti-smoking campaigns should reach “difficult and rural areas” where older people continue to smoke.