ARMENIA TO PRESENT ANTI-SMOKING REPORT TO WHO
Armenpress
Oct 02 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Next year Armenia will have to
present to the World Health Organization (WHO) its first report on
implementation of commitments it has assumed by joining the Framework
Convention on Anti-Tobacco Struggle. Armenia ratified the Framework
Convention in 2004.
According to Alexander Bazarchian, the coordinator of the national
anti-tobacco campaign, Armenia’s main commitments set by the Convention
are the passage of an anti-tobacco legislation, enforcement of a
full ban on tobacco advertisement before 2010 and the gradual rise
of tobacco products prices and besides 30 percent of cigarette packs
must have a notice about the smoking hazards.
So far Armenia has passed a law on restrictions to sale, consumption
and use of tobacco products. Local law on advertising bans street
advertisement of tobacco goods. According to Armenian doctors, the
number of smokers in Armenia is on the constant rise Some experts
estimate that more than half of all males are smokers. They say the
number of smoking women also increases, the bulk of them in Yerevan.
The World Health Organization estimates that 63.7 percent of Armenian
men are smokers – the highest rate in Europe. By comparison, an
estimated 60 percent of men in neighboring Georgia are smokers and
31.2 percent in Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s first ever restrictions on smoking in public places came
into force on March 2, 2005, prohibiting smoking in hospitals,
cultural and education institutions and public transportation.
There are no mechanisms in place for enforcing the measures, and to
date there is little evidence of compliance with the restrictions.