Belgium welcomes smoke-free generation strategy
By 2028, only 10 percent of Belgians will smoke daily and by 2040, no one will start smoking. That is the ambition of the new Belgian strategic plan approved by its health ministers Interministerial Conference (IMC) on Wednesday.
The plan of action is to ban smoking, even in outdoor venues. A significant increase in the price of tobacco and more affordable drug withdrawal medicine are also part of the fourteen points from a new strategic plan.
Ban on vending machines
The IMC wants to reduce the number of tobacco outlets and banning vending machines seems a reasonable start in the right direction, according to the conference. The ultimate goal of the plan is to achieve a ‘smoke-free generation’ by 2028.
In 2018, 15 percent of the entire population smoked a cigarette a day. Not only should that number drop to 5 percent by 2040, but ideally no one should start smoking. The Belgian Alliance for a Smoke-Free Society, funded by anti-cancer foundations, sees the plan as 'a promising, coherent package of measures that can finally stop the tobacco pandemic.
Additionally the IMC also approved a strategy to limit premature alcohol consumption and overconsumption.
© BELGA