Strengthening Smoking Controls: Experience and Lessons from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau

According to a report by the Shanghai Daily on December 19th, health officials from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macau participated in an anti-smoking campaign on November 12th in Shanghai. During the event, they exchanged experiences, particularly focusing on measures to restrict the use of e-cigarettes.

These officials expressed the need to strengthen legislation and enforcement efforts during a tobacco control event in Shanghai. They emphasized the potential harm that e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes can pose to adolescents and young adults through activities and education.

According to a release from the Shanghai Health Promotion Center, officials have shared their experience in tobacco control in their respective regions. They emphasized the importance of updating and strengthening tobacco control regulations, providing smoking cessation services, implementing measures to prevent underage smoking, managing e-cigarettes, and banning tobacco advertisements and sponsorships in efforts to create a smoke-free society and raise public awareness.

Despite the fact that tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 different chemicals, including 69 known carcinogens, the annual death toll in China resulting from tobacco exceeds one million. Officials state that Shanghai has the longest average lifespan on mainland China, reaching 84.1 years in 2021, which can be attributed to its strict anti-smoking efforts. On the other hand, the low prevalence of tobacco use is considered the primary contributing factor to the longevity of residents in China's Hong Kong.

Shanghai became the first mainland city in China to implement an anti-smoking law in 2010 and made amendments to the law in 2016 and 2022. Last year, the city banned the use of e-cigarettes in all indoor public areas. The smoking rate in Shanghai dropped by 7.5 percentage points from 2010 to 19.4% in 2022. Furthermore, the usage of traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes among local minors is also the lowest in the country.

Currently, authorities in Shanghai are working diligently to improve the supervision of smoke-free venues, while also promoting the establishment of smoke-free government institutions, households, schools, and medical facilities. Efforts are also being made to enhance services and medical support to aid individuals in quitting smoking, local officials have revealed.

Officials in Hong Kong, China, have announced a significant decrease in the smoking rate from 23.3% in 1982 to 9.5% last year, with a target set for 7.8% by the year 2025. The Chinese Special Administrative Region plans to achieve this goal by addressing smoking-related diseases and deaths, preventing underage smoking, protecting the public from the dangers of smoking, and reducing the burden on healthcare resulting from smoking.

Officials in Macau, China, have stated that the region has implemented strict legislation and harsh penalties for those who violate anti-smoking laws, resulting in a decrease in cigarette use from 16.6% in 2011 to 10.6% last year. Since December of last year, this special administrative region has banned e-cigarettes, with manufacturing, sales, import, and export of e-cigarettes being completely prohibited in order to reduce young people's exposure to them.