2025 ‘tobacco-free’ goal

Turkmenistan has set a goal of becoming tobacco-free by 2025, Kristina Mauer-Stender, program manager for tobacco control at the World Health Organization’s regional office for Europe, said in an interview reported by AzerNews.

As has become ‘normal’, ‘tobacco-free’ is here defined as the point at which the number of smokers in the country no longer exceeds five percent of the adult population.

“I would like to stress that it is very important for other countries to learn from Turkmenistan’s positive experience,” she said.

Turkmenistan has a leading position in the fight against tobacco smoking. As of April 2016, the country was said to have recorded the lowest smoking rate (8.3 percent) in WHO’s European region.

Turkmenistan ratified the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2011.

And it was said to have adopted a national action plan for tobacco control that included raising public awareness, strengthening relevant legislation and regulations, governing the sale of tobacco products to minors, and strengthening co-operation with international organizations.