Of Indonesia's 280 million inhabitants, around 70 million are smokers. The country is often considered one of the world's largest tobacco markets. Now political steps are being taken to change this. In particular, there is a desire to stop tobacco use among young people, around 5 million children smoke or use other tobacco and nicotine products.
The country's health authorities have looked to Australia, among other places, for inspiration. Australia was the first in the world to introduce plain cigarette packaging. Since 2012, all cigarettes and other tobacco products have had to be sold in standardised olive-brown packaging with large health warnings and without attractive logos or designs. Measures that have had an effect, writes Tobacco Journal International.
