MOH wants to know what motivation is needed to give up smoking

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is conducting a survey on the readiness to quit among adult smokers in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will cover those who are aged 18 and above.

“We would like to invite you to participate in a national research titled ‘Readiness to Quit Smoking Among Adult Smokers in Malaysia’, ” the ministry tweeted late on Tuesday.

The survey is a joint collaboration between Universiti Malaysia Sabah, the Health Ministry and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia.

When contacted, Universiti Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences chief coordinator Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin said that it was very important to have these types of studies to better understand the motivation to quit during this period and also barriers faced by them in their attempt to quit smoking.

“One learning point of the ‘Tak Nak campaign’ many years ago is that it did improve people’s awareness. We can still recite ‘Tak Nak’ which is to stop smoking.

“However, do we know where to find help when we want to quit?” he asked.

“Certainly things have improved since then with the smoke-free generation mQuit initiative since 2015.

“Latest stats show a rising trend of people coming forward to quit, using jomquit.com.

“However, during this pandemic and movement control order, things are a little bit different, ” he said.

He said this study was timely to understand the situation and assist people to quit smoking.

Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control president Datuk Dr Lekhraj Rampal said strong measures needed to be taken to promote smoking cessation among adults in the country.

“The government needs to do more on smoking prevention.

“There are many studies conducted on the impact of Covid-19 to smokers. The authorities need to find a whole new approach to ensure more people quit smoking, ” he said.

Similar studies have been conducted internationally on the impact of Covid-19 on smoking cessation, including in Turkey and the Netherlands.