Public Inputs and Behaviour on Smoke-Free Initiatives in Malaysia

Based on the Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, smoking-related diseases such as cancer and CVD, were the main causes of death. Following this, the Smoke-Free Programme (SFP) was initiated by MySihat through designating certain localities in whole or part of a city/town as “smoke-free” areas. Therefore, Malacca, Cameron Highland, Penang, Mulu, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu and Johor Bahru were chosen. This cross-sectional study aims at determining the people’s knowledge, attitude and practice towards the implementation of SFP policy, smoker’s compliance and tolerance towards SFP policy, and gauging the anti-smoking services in the designated areas. A set of questionnaires developed by MySihat (Cronbach Alpha 0.701) were used. 2001 respondents were assigned from the five following states: Malacca, Penang, Johor, Kelantan and Terengganu. Male respondents were slightly higher than female (54.9% vs 45.1%). Majority of the respondents (79.1%) have heard about the government initiative to designate certain localities as smoke-free areas. Most of them had heard about smoke-free areas through Malaysian Ministry of Health, followed by local municipalities (45.8%), Ministry of Tourism (30.7%) and NGOs (25.3%). Majority of respondents (73.1%) received their information through signboards, television advertisement (68.9%), and the lowest was from magazines (40.3%). However, surprisingly 30% of respondents said that they could smoke in smoke-free designated areas. Most respondents (90.3%) agreed that the initiative on providing designated smoke-free areas help reduce the percentage of smokers among citizens. Almost all of respondents (96.8%) agreed that the SFP protect the non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. Most respondents are knowledgeable on the harmful effects of tobacco However there are still quite a number of smokers who are still nonchalant towards the policy.