A couple of comments on this article.

If the tobacco control law was enacted in 2006, thanks to the work of the health minister Harry, then decades have not gone by.

The article is silent on whose responsibility it is to enforce the law. Is this deliberate?

Call me picky, but the goal of no smoking areas is not to protect people from second hand smoke. No smoking areas, like many tobacco control activities, have as their goal a decrease in the prevalence of people who smoke.

Jamie

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Health official slams lax enforcement of tobacco law in Myanmar
Htoo Thant
Myanmar Times
18 February 2020

The enforcement of the country’s anti-smoking and anti-tobacco law remains weak decades after it was enacted, a senior health official said.

Dr Kyaw Kan Kaung, director of the Health Ministry’s Non-communicable Diseases Unit, said tobacco companies are still able to circumvent the ban on tobacco advertising.

“We have to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, either directly or indirectly,” he said at an event aimed at intensifying the anti-tobacco campaign in Nay Pyi Taw last week.

For example, he said, tobacco companies hire women to go to restaurants and tea shops to offer cigarettes in Nay Pyi Taw.

Even at some festivals, cigarette companies boldly break the law by distributing caps, T-shirts and other souvenirs that advertise their brands.

He lamented the lack of public awareness about the Control of Smoking and Consumption of Tobacco Product Law, which was enacted in May 2006 by the then-ruling State Peace and Development Council.

“Most people don’t know about the law so they don’t follow it,” he said.

He said that the government will intensify designation of no-smoking areas to prevent non-smokers from suffering the health risks associated with second-hand smoke. But he assured that special areas will be set aside for smokers.

“The ministry will coordinate with region and state governments to supervise and monitor the work,” he added.

In the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, officials issued rules on the control of smoking and use of tobacco products in December. Action will be taken against violators after a six-month education campaign, U Kyaw Kan Aung said.

Health activists said that up to 65,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases in Myanmar every year. – Translated

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/health-official-slams-lax-enforcement-tobacco-law-myanmar.html