“Young people: for a life without tobacco” is the motto of the Europe-wide campaign, which the National Youth Council (KNZ) also forms an active part of.
KNZ president Alessia Zammit presented Ray Busuttil, director general of health, with the campaign´s European Youth Manifesto yesterday.
As he accepted the manifesto on behalf of Health Minister Louis Deguara, who was unable to attend, Dr Busuttil said it was very encouraging to see KNZ take the smoking issue on board and campaign in favour of a smoke-free society.
The government and the health department have taken this issue seriously for a number of years now, particularly since 50 per cent of deaths per year are related to cardiovascular diseases, while a further 30 per cent are caused by cancer, said Dr Busuttil, adding that it showed that tobacco was one of the major causes of such diseases.
He said Malta was at the forefront as regards the anti-smoking campaign and it was the first country to win the World Health Organisation “Quit and win” contest in 1994.
He said that while the Smoking in Public Places Regulations were implemented in 2003, enforcement of these regulations was still not successful in discotheques, bars and other places of entertainment.
“We were successful in helping smokers quit, but we need to address the issue of those who start smoking. As a result, there is now a shift of focus, as we would like to address the issue of tobacco and young people.
“It is for this reason that we are so happy that KNZ has made an effort to participate in this initiative and take it so seriously. After all, the authorities are committed to address health issues that particularly affect young people, since our efforts will translate into a healthier nation in the future,” said Dr Busuttil.
Joanna Drake, head of the European Commission´s representation in Malta, also commended KNZ´s efforts, since this showed that young people were in fact interested in issues that would affect the future of Maltese and European society.
While the EU was not normally involved in national health issues, it wanted to collaborate more with national governments to complement health policies, said Dr Drake, adding that the EU wanted to be closer to citizens by taking an active role in issues that affected their daily lives.
Giving a presentation of the European Youth manifesto for a life without tobacco, KNZ president Alessia Zammit said that when it was drawn up, young Europeans wanted to keep in mind Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family.”
Ms Zammit said the manifesto was intended to affirm the strong evidence that tobacco was the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in developed countries and that all efforts must be taken to protect young people from the health risks and harm caused by tobacco use and environmental tobacco smoke.
She said that over 10,000 young people throughout the EU have been involved in the European Youth Forum project and the manifesto included the outcomes of the national consultation processes in the EU member states, as adopted by about 200 national representatives in Brussels last May.
Source:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news... |
