Mauritius
“Government is committed to implement plain packaging not only because we believe in its effectiveness but we are also sure that the trend worldwide would reduce the number of people getting hooked on smoking,” stated the minister of health and quality of life, Mr Anil Kumarsingh Gayan recently.
The minister was speaking at the opening of a one-day workshop focusing on strengthening the Mauritius tobacco control policies. The 2016 theme was “Get Ready for Plain Packaging”.
The minister dwelt on the measures that have been taken to stand the consumption of tobacco in Mauritius such as the ban on smoking in public places, advertising, promotion, and sponsorship of tobacco products.
Commenting on figures released by the national non-communicable diseases survey carried out last year, which show that the prevalence of smoking in Mauritius has decreased from 21% in 2009 to 19% in 2015, the minister said that a drop of 2% in 5 years is not significant.
Records from the Mauritius revenue authority also show that the import of cigarettes has decreased from just over 1 billion in 2009 to just under 1 billion in 2015. This means that the per capita consumption in the country was 986 cigarettes per person.