Finland and Serbia will work together on the twinning project “Improving tobacco control in the Republic of Serbia” aimed at protecting present and future generations from this incessant disaster, Finnish Ambassador Pekka Orpana said at the meeting organised by the EU Delegation to Serbia and EU Info Centre on the occasion of World no tobacco day.
Tobacco use is a global death cause and at the same time it is the most preventive one, Orpana said.
The project should develop a tobacco use monitoring system, designed to help Serbian society in fighting the tobacco use, he said, adding that the twinning project was the first one to get Serbia and Finland working together.
In general, smoking is one of the main health risks and remain so among the non-communicable diseases, while Serbia accounts for a much wider tobacco usage than EU countries, said Head of operations of the EU Delegation Martin Kern.
Kern said that there was a surprisingly high percentage of people who were exposed to second-hand smoke at their work place or educational institutions, adding that smoking ban in restaurants was only partial.
He also said that there was a chapter within the EU accession negotiations that dealt with health, adding that Serbia would have to harmonise its tobacco laws with the EU regulations; in other words, taxation of tobacco products could then be used as a tool for fighting against tobacco use.
This particular twinning project is important because it improves the overall quality of health while raising people and state authorities’ awareness about the importance of combating tobacco use, said Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Health Nebojša Jokić.
He said that combating tobacco use was the most important part of the project, underlying the importance of harmonising domestic regulations with the EU’s oness.
The WHO estimated that if every country in the world had increased cigarette taxes by 50%, number of smokers would have been reduced by 49 million, resulting in 11 million lives saved, Head of the WHO country office in Serbia Miljana Grbić said.She cited Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Turkey as successful examples of countries that had managed to raise tobacco taxes while increasing the excise tax revenue.
According to the studies, Serbian population accounted for around 40% of smokers, whereas 13% of young people had tried their first cigarette between the age of 13 and 15, Head of the National committee for tobacco prevention Srmena Krstev said.
The current law banning smoking should be amended to include a complete ban on smoking in restaurants, she said.
Despite several successful media campaigns, majority of Serbian citizens remained unaware of smoking-related health risks, Head of the National office for smoking prevention Biljana Kilibarda said, adding that that she expected Finnish experts to initiate a change during the project.
Finland plans to become a “smoke-free“ country by 2040.
