RI to ratify tobacco control convention

JAKARTA. Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi has said the government will work to ensure that Indonesia ratifies the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), as it moves to curb addiction to smoking in the country.

“I have written a letter to the President [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono], and he said, ‘OK, but we should first speak with one voice in the government before we continue to proceed with the ratification.’ So, I think we will get there, but not yet,” she told The Jakarta Post in an interview at her residence on Jl. Denpasar Raya, Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

Indonesia is the only Asian country that has not yet ratified the FCTC. As of July, 177 countries are parties to the FCTC through either ratification or accession mechanisms, while nine countries have yet to ratify the convention, although they have already signed it.

Indonesia is one of eight World Health Organization (WHO) member countries — including small European states Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco, and African nations Eritrea, Malawi, Somalia and Zimbabwe — that have yet to both sign and become parties to the convention. (The Jakarta Post)