PROBLEM: TOBACCO USE AMONG YOUTH IN INDONESIA
Observation and Interviews
Interview 1 : The Kids 2nd - 5th grade kids • Most of them said they have never been influenced to smoke by their friends • However, there is 1 boy who admitted ever been asked by a 6 grader to try smoking, but refused • They have been educated at school about smoking, and have good awareness about the health effect of smoking • All of them said they will refuse if there is other people persuade them to smoke
Interview 2 : The Kids 7th - 8th grade kids • One of them admitted she had been asked by her friend to try smoking, and she did try • She said that it tasted bad and she coughed immediately • Another girl said that if someone is smoking does not mean that the person is bad • She told a story about her friend who resorted to smoking because of broken home problems • Generally boys are more likely to smoke than girls
Interview 3 : The Parents Parents of 19-year old kid who smoke • Her son started smoking since 14 years old and mainly because of his peers influence • She has never see his son smoking by herself, but only have been told from other neighbors • She said of course every parent would rather have their children not smoking, but now it is very difficult to persuade her son to quit smoking • Her husband also smokes, but in moderate amount • Her son dropped out of school and now just do odd-jobs for livelihood. He never asked money from his parents anymore to buy cigarettes
Interview 4 : The Parents Smoker father whose son also smokes • He has been smoking for 25 years, approximately 1,5 pack per day • He had tried to quit several times but failed over and over again because it is too difficult to change his habit • His son also smoked cigarette since 15 years old, but only admitted after graduated from school • His son still asks him pocket money to buy cigarette, but he forcedly give him the money. Because he is afraid his son will resort to stealing money. • He admitted that his smoking habit is not a good example for his son, but he can not quit either. • He started smoking because of peer pressure, afraid of being ridiculed because of not smoking
Interview 5 : Cigarette Seller / Stall Stall owner who sell cigarettes • His stall is just besides a public primary school and his counter prominently displays cigarette products • He said there has never been primary school student buying cigarette from his stall, but there are a lot of high school students buying cigarettes there • There are also teachers and school staffs who buy cigarettes from his stall • He said he will not sell cigarette to children, despite the money • Cigarette is very affordable for students, as cheap as Rp. 1.500,- (about $ 0,11) per cigarette bar
Interview 6 : Lentera Anak Foundation (Non-profit) Children Right Activist • According to research, almost 80% of smokers started smoking since they were under 19 years old • She said this is because children easily imitate people around them: parents, teachers, neighbors, etc • The common practice of smoking makes children assume it is normal for adults to smoke cigarette • It is also worsened by the fact that it is very easy and cheap for children to access and buy cigarettes • The high number of youth smoker could threaten Indonesian next generation, the health impact could be seen in the next 10-15 years where a lot of productive age suffers from diseases
Desktop Research
The Data Smoking Prevalence for Youth Aged 10-18 in Indonesia 8,8
Indonesia Boys cigarette prevalence Boys tobacco prevalence Girls cigarette prevalence Girls tobacco prevalence Source: https://tobaccoatlas.org/topic/youth/#
9, 1
7, 2
: 21,4 % : 23 % : 1,5 % : 2,4 % RKD 2013
SIRKESNAS 2016
RKD 2018
Source: Riset Kesehatan Dasar 2018 Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia
Root History Local cigarette mass production in Indonesia started as early as the end of 19th century, when tobacco was mixed with clove sauce and deemed as medicinal product. Since then, the production, spreading and marketing of cigarette has multiplied remarkably. Annual cigarette consumption in Indonesia has increased from:
33 billion
units in
1970
to
342 billion
units in
2016
The Impact
Root Cause Analysis
The analysis presented in the next slides are personal opinion prepared for Young Sustainable Impact Innovation Programme application requirement. This is not a scientific analysis and not intended to criticize any party.
STAKEHOLDERS NON-PROFIT AND COMMUNITY LEADERS
CENTRAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
TOBACCO MANUFACTURER
TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS
EARLY AGE SMOKING HABIT
GENERAL SOCIETAL CULTURE
PARENTS AND FAMILIES
TOBACCO PRODUCT RETAILER
THE WHY'S WHY
WH Y A kid who smoke
WHY
WHY Curiosity
WHY
WHY think it is cool
WHY Persuaded by friends
WHY Imitate other people
Afraid of rejection
Low self esteem Advertising
Movies
WHY
...
EXTERNAL MODELS THAT AFFECT CHILDREN BEHAVIOR
FAMILY PEER PRESSURE - School friends - Neighborhood friends - Online Gaming friends
- Parental habit and education - Family love (or lack of)
SOCIETAL CULTURE - General Society - Culture - Public advertisement - Religious norm - Online content
WHY GOVERNMENT FAIL HUGE tax income
BIG money
Cigarette manufacturer
Government
Advertising and sponsorship society, poor and rich, old and young ...
more tax income
o t ... could n ople the pe t c e t o r p
Reflection 1 - The Big Picture • Smoking habit is a complex problem as it involves a wide range of society: poor as well as rich, old as well as young, highly educated as well as dropouts, odd-job workers, professionals, even politicians. • Smoking has been part of Indonesian lifestyle and culture since long time ago, this explains why it is difficult to change a common habit that is already been there for generations. • It is almost impossible to have a society which do not smoke at all in the near future. • We have to define the standards when smoking become a problem, for example the perceived age range that is allowed to smoke, the moderate amount of cigarettes per day, the cases of child health risks, etc. • In Indonesia, smoking is a very prominent problem, but alcohol use rate is relatively low than the other countries. Religion plays an important role here, as Moslem belief do not allow its people to drink alcohol, but it do not restrict tobacco use.
Reflection 2 - The Core Problems • Tobacco product manufacturers aggresively aim at young people because they are the 'future customer'. Once these young people are already addicted, the manufacturer will target the next new generation. • Children learn fast through imitation. It will be more difficult to stop this intergenerational culture if the smoking practice is commonly viewed and accessible by the children. • A country like Indonesia is still difficult to implement strong policy and regulation to tobacco product manufacturers because these big companies already plant a deep root and play a big part in the national economy.