THE Department of Health (DOH) is looking to gather sufficient data on the prevalence of the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products in the country, with the goal of pushing for stronger policies against such devices.
In an interview, DOH Undersecretary Eric Tayag said they are currently in the process of collecting information on vaping and e-cigarette use both for adults and youth.
“We are conducting the tobacco survey, not just for adults but also for the youth. We included in the survey those for vaping,” said Tayag.
He said the data gathering is aimed at getting enough information that can be used to convince policymakers to strengthen laws against vaping.
Under the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), vape and e-cigarette users among the youth went up from 11.7 percent in 2015 to 24.5 percent in 2019.
“These data will serve as evidence to convince policymakers to strengthen (our laws),” said Tayag.
The health official said they are working to have vaping policies strengthened to better protect Filipinos against the ills of smoking and vaping.
“The campaign against smoking and vaping is part of our healthy habits campaign,” said Tayag.
The statement of the DOH comes after nine former health officials called on the Philippine delegation to the 10th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP10) of the World Health Organization (WHO) – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to take the lead in pushing for the fight against vapes and electronic cigarettes.
The former DOH secretaries and undersecretaries believe the Philippine delegation should speak about the serious threat to public health brought about by weak Philippine regulations on e-cigarettes and vapes.
