The Ministry of Health is concerned about children who sell cigarettes, which pose a big risk to their health.
Department of Non-infectious Diseases chief Herculano Seixas dos Santos said Timor-Leste must enact legislation to regulate and control the circulation of cigarettes across the country.
He said the Ministry of Health (MS) was drawing up draft laws to control the sale of cigarettes which will dictate who may sell cigarettes.
“We see many minors selling cigarettes on the side of the street,” Dr Santos said during the first consultation meeting for the cigarette laws, in Delta Nova, Dili.
Apart from this, he said parents needed to be conscious of the effects of smoking on their children.
Parents sometimes smoke while holding their babies, even though they know their smoking has a negative effect on their children.
He said Ministry of Health was still raising awareness and promoting to the community the impacts of smoking on people’s health.
According to the statistics from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 2009, 50,6 per cent of boys and 17,3 per cent of girls aged 13 to 15, smoked cigarettes.
Data from the Ministry of Health from 2006 showed one in 10 students found it easy to get cigarettes.
Commission F (Health, Education, Culture, Veteran and Gender Equality) president Member of Parliament (MP) Virgilio da Costa Hornai said the laws should include an article setting down a minimum age for those who may smoke and sell cigarettes.
“It should have one article that talks about how old people must be to smoke cigarettes, for the reason that in reality, lots of minors aged 12 to13-year-olds are smoking,” MP Hornai said.
To reduce the smoking rate in Timor-Leste he said the important thing was to forbid smoking in public places such as public transport, health facilities, churches, crèches, and schools to reduce the impact on people’s health.
Underage cigarette vendor Pascoal Amaral said he sold cigarettes on the side of the street to help his sustain his family.
“My parents tell me to sell the cigarettes. Some money from selling cigarettes is used to buy books,pencils and pens and some is used for the family’s necessities,” he said.
