THE Ministry of Health and Medical Service is stepping up with the enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act.

Permanent Secretary of the MHMS, Dr Tenneth Dalipanda made the statement during celebrations marking World Tobacco Day yesterday.

He said the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act and the associated Tobacco Control Regulations are currently being implemented.

“And we are moving to step up the enforcement efforts in collaboration with the Police and the Honiara City Council.

“Work in the provinces is at the awareness stage and we will be moving up to the enforcement work next year according to the tobacco control strategic plan.

“We are confident that this work will further enhance our efforts to reach the objectives of the Tobacco Control Act 2010, as well as meet our obligations as a member of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control,” Dr Dalipanda said.

However, he said the MHMS is not just concerned about tobacco use, but efforts to address the reduction of harmful alcohol use, to increase physical activity as well as having a nutritious diet with low sugar, low salt and low fat are all part and parcel of the work to reduce exposure to the shared NCD risk factors.

The PS said the management and care of NCD patients in the Primary Health Care level using tools from the SOLPEN package (Branded name from WHO PEN) is also another major venture they are implementing under the supervision of the NCD Department to reduce the deaths secondary to NCDs and patients who might be smoking.

The MHMS is fully committed towards the reduction of NCDs and its associated share risk factors, and tobacco use being one of the major risk factors stands as a target to reduce as the country join with the Pacific in working towards a tobacco-free Pacific 2025.

He added that tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a NCD.

Saying that tobacco use is the number one risk factor predisposing to non-communicable diseases across the globe.

He said tobacco accounts for around six million deaths every year worldwide (including from the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke), and is projected to increase markedly over the coming years.

“With this alone we can say that “Tobacco is truly a threat to development,” as the theme for this year clearly states.

“This is why NCD Department in the Ministry of Health has directed much focus in reducing tobacco prevalence rates over the past few years,” PS Panda said.