Work to reduce the use of tobacco products in mountainous Kyrgyzstan has been underway since 2011. The current project will continue until 2020 and will be extended from Kyrgyzstan to neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
“The aim is to create a network of work to reduce the use of tobacco products in Central Asia, where Kyrgyz and other Central Asian experts play a key role,” says project manager Patrick Sandström .
The project funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is coordinated by Filha ry. Suomen ASH ry is a tobacco expert in the project.
The project is being implemented in Kyrgyzstan with the Health Promotion Center under the local Ministry of Health. At local level, the project involves village health committees, primary health care, schools and local government.
“Filha has been cooperating in Kyrgyzstan since the 1990s, with the emphasis on developing a lung disease management system. Thanks to this, we have very good cooperation networks in the country, ”says Sandström.
Many messengers
More than 60 percent of men and about 20 percent of women smoke in Kyrgyzstan. The use of cigarettes has decreased somewhat in recent years, but home made nasal snuff has gained popularity.
The aim of the project is to reduce the use of tobacco products and to support the implementation of the country’s tobacco legislation at the grassroots level.
“In Kyrgyzstan, we educate the general public about tobacco and its drawbacks. The goal is to get the same message from the health hazards of smoking as many people as possible, and that there is support for killing, ”says Sandström.
The project has trained doctors and health care professionals, teachers, local government and the media. In addition, village health committees made up of laymen are important partners.
“The village health committees are a great system there! Each member of the Committee is responsible for a dozen houses in the village to discuss smoking cessation and other disease prevention issues. It is well suited to the culture of the place where knocking the door is to invite. ”
Efforts are being made to spread the tobacco information to many channels: from doctors to patients, from teachers to pupils and through them to homes, through the members of the village health committee and from the media.
“In the future, the locals will take care of the training themselves. We first trained people in the capital who then trained regional health workers at the Health Promotion Center to further educate doctors, teachers, local government, media and village health committees. ”
Local government is discussing the implementation of the country’s tobacco law.
“The local authorities do not necessarily know the law, and therefore we say, for example, that tobacco should not be sold to minors, tobacco advertising is forbidden and bus or taxi drivers should not smoke in the car,” says Sandström.
Aiming for permanent practices
Projektilla pyritään saamaan aikaan pysyviä tupakoinnin lopettamista tukevia käytäntöjä. Kirgisiassa luodut mallit ovat käyttökelpoisia myös muissa Keski-Aasian maissa, joissa kaikissa on samantyyppinen terveydenhuoltojärjestelmä.
”Kirgisiassa on Neuvostoliiton perua erittäin hyvät raportointijärjestelmät, joita olemme hyödyntäneet. Olemme esimerkiksi olleet mukana tekemässä tupakkavieroituksen kansallisen hoitosuosituksen terveysalan ammattilaisten käyttöön ja tukeneet perhelääkäreiden kirjaamiskäytäntöjen kehittymistä. Lisäksi koulujen opetussuunnitelmaan olemme rakentaneet tupakkaan liittyvän moduulin yhteistyössä maan opetusministeriön kanssa käytettäväksi koko maassa.”
- Keuhkoterveyden edistämishanke Keski-Aasiassa 2017-2020 on jatkoa vuosina 2011-2016 toteutetuille Kirgisian tupakoinnin vähentämishankkeelle
- The current project is expanding to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- The project is coordinated by Filha ry . Suomen ASH ry is a tobacco expert in the project.