KUALA LUMPUR – More than 38,000 school students, both primary and secondary, were identified as smokers last year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad said through the Oral Health Tobacco-Free (Kotak) programme, a total of 38,384 students were identified. This comprises 38,010 high school students and 374 primary school students who all received interventions.
In a parliamentary written reply, he said that the effectiveness of the intervention initiatives is assessed by the number and percentage of students who have committed to quit smoking on a specific date and those who successfully quit six months after the previous year’s cohort.
“Out of 374 primary school students, a total of 298 students, which is 79.7%, have set a quit date. For the cohort followed after 6 months, 127 students, or 37.6%, have successfully stopped smoking.
“Meanwhile, among 38,010 secondary school students, a total of 18,761 students, or 49.4%, have set a quit date. After 6 months, only 1,726 secondary school students, representing 5.2%, have quit smoking.
Dzulkefly was responding to Kuala Nerus MP Datuk Alias Razak, who asked about the success of the intervention programme which was implemented in 2023, and government efforts to prevent students from returning to smoking.
“For a smoking cessation intervention, reinforcement training will be provided to counselling teachers and educators who will offer drug prevention education, highlighting the risks of smoking and vaping. Students with smoking habits will be referred to the school counselling teacher.
“Students who smoke can get follow-up treatment at the health clinic with their parents.
“The ministry has also implemented a Primary 5 Advocacy Programme, along with intervention programs in higher education institutions through the University’s mQuit program, workplace interventions via the Workplace mQuit program, and community outreach in collaboration with non-governmental organizations such as the Malaysian Pharmacy Association,” Dzulkefly said.
In 2022, the Health Ministry’s Kotak programme identified 43,019 secondary school students as smokers out of a screening of 1.3 million students.
During the same period, screening of two million primary school pupils revealed that 341 were also smokers. – July 5, 2024