During the 150th World Health Organization’s (WHO) executive board meeting in Geneva, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced plans to pass new legislation to ban tobacco and other nicotine product for those born after 2005.
This comes after New Zealand passed a similar act prohibiting the sale of nicotine products to anyone born after 2008.
According to a report published by the Ministry of Health, 1 in 5 Malaysian teenagers smoke.
The estimated annual tobacco-related fatalities now sit at 27,000 with 15% due to second-hand exposure.
“For too long, our health care system has been burdened with health care issues resulting from smoking. This allocation will enable smoking to be phased out in stages until one day in future, Malaysia will be a smoke-free country,” Khairy said.
The Health minister mentions his ambitions for a generation that “will no longer know what a cigarette is”.