Search

Introduction Social assistance programs create an income effect that allows lowincome groups to raise their consumption to improve their well-being. However, this may unintentionally induce an increase in their consumption of temptation goods, including tobacco. By analyzing five massive social assistance programs distributed by the government since 2007, we explore whether those programs may induce increased smoking intensity in Indonesia. Methods This study is a quantitative study that applies a Tobit regression, Differencein- Differences (DiD) regression, Difference regression, and two-sample t-test, using the 2017 Susenas (National Socioeconomic Survey) and the 2007 and 2014 Indonesia Family Life Survey. Estimations using sociodemographic, regional, and social assistance dummy variables are used to explore the impact of the programs on the intensity of cigarette consumption in Indonesia, simultaneously assessing the relationship between cigarette consumption and socioeconomic conditions. Results Our estimations using Tobit regressions confirm that social assistance recipients consume 3.39 cigarettes per capita per week more than non-recipients. The DiD regressions on IFLS panel data show that social assistance programs significantly increase cigarette consumption by 2.8 cigarettes per capita per week. We also find that: 1) smokers have lower socioeconomic indicators than nonsmokers in terms of nutrition and health and education expenditures, and 2) younger household members living with smokers have less educational attainment and higher average sick days. Conclusions There is reasonable evidence to support the hypothesis that social assistance programs in Indonesia have contributed to the greater intensity of tobacco consumption among the recipients. The findings call for policy reforms in social assistance programs to be warier with the eligibility conditions for social assistance recipients. Adding new conditions related to smoking behaviors might reduce the smoking intensity of those in low-income groups and, in the long run, might improve the effectiveness of social assistance programs in raising the socioeconomic welfare of the low-income population.

The prevalence of teen smokers has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Smoking behavior occurs due to exposure to advertising and the promotion of cigarettes. This quantitative research was conducted using cross-sectional approach. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between advertising exposure and cigarette promotion on adolescent smoking behavior in Malang Regency during the pandemic using the chi-square test. Random sampling on students from several high schools or equal degree in the Kepanjen District was done with a total of 145 respondents. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between age, types of cigarette advertising media at the point of sale, outdoor media, social media, internet, and newspapers or magazines by adolescent smoking behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic (p-value > 0.05). Exposure to cigarette advertisements on television, total exposure to cigarette advertisements, cigarette promotion, and gender had a significant relationship with adolescent smoking behavior during the pandemic (p value < 0.05). Adolescents are quite highly exposed to the various types of advertisements and promotions of cigarettes that can influence increased smoking behavior during the pandemic.

Background: The sustainability of the National Health Insurance (NHI) program heavily relies on the premium of its member. The negligence of a large number of members to pay the premium lead to the failure of the Social Security Agency for Health (SSAH) to deliver its services. This study aims at analyzing important factors that influence the sustainability of premium payment of NHI’s self-enrolled members in the Jakarta Greater Area. Design and MethodS: This study performed an econometric analysis from the panel and the same respondent’s data in 2015 and 2017. The population of the study was NHI’s self-enrolled members who lived in the City of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, (Jakarta Greater Area) and it represents the urban area of Indonesia. The ordinal logistic regression model was used to determine the type of sustainability NHI premium payment. Results: The survey shows that around 28.3% of self-enrolled members do not pay the NHI insurance premium regularly. Applying ordered logit this study statistically confirms that age of household head, income per month, never experience economic hardship, 1st/2nd class registration, and benefits of SSAH are positively correlated with compliance rate to pay NHI insurance premium. Whereas tobacco consumption, health-seeking behavior, and the 2016 increase of premium are negatively correlated with regular premium payment. Conclusion: This study calls for policy intervention to improve compliance of premium payment such as 1) massive promotion of insurance literacy and benefits of insurance through a health professional, internet, and government officer; 2) expanding auto-debit and installment premium payment; 3) incentive for paying premium regularly and not smoking; and 4) improving access and quality of health services.

Indonesia Basic Health Research Data in 2018 shows that smokers in the 10-18 years age group increased to 9.1%. The phenomenon of smoking in adolescents in Indonesia has touched on educational institutions such as pesantren, where students are found to have smoked from an early age. This study aims to review the influence of students' perceptions of cigarettes based on smoking habits, cigarette advertisements and the image of cigarette companies to the smoking behaviour in students at Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School. This research is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional study design using 40 students as research samples. We use modified structured questionnaire from the Smoke-Free Agents. Research shows 62.5% of students are active smokers. Based on the bivariate test, we found a relationship between perceptions of smoking habits and perceptions of cigarette advertising (p-value 0.05). This study found a high percentage of students who smoked in the Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School. Students' perceptions of smoking habits and students' perceptions of cigarette advertisements are related to students' smoking behaviour. The denormalization of cigarette products needs to be carried out by Islamic Boarding School Management to control smokers among students and prevent adolescent’s smoker.

Abstract Background Several Asian countries have implemented pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs as suggested by the World Health Organization with various policies based on countries’ systems. The study is aimed to analyse multiple research studies on the perceived effectiveness of Pictorial Health Warnings as a deterrent to smoking intention and as a stimulant of smoking behaviour in smokers and non-smokers in Asian countries. Method Peer-reviewed articles were identified through multiple science databases indexed by Scopus, MEDLINE or PubMed. The review was limited to articles that reported original research findings, were conducted in Asian countries and were available for review by January 2010. A PRISMA Flow diagram was used to identify the articles through the process of data screening and extractions. Result A total of 14 original articles which met the criteria were included in the review, consisting of 12 quantitative studies and 2 studies with both quantitative and qualitative methods from 17 jurisdictions. The reviewed studies found that pictorial health warnings were associated with a greater perception of salience (reading and noticing the warning), emotional effects, and cognitive increase. Additionally, in the reviewed studies, pictorial health warnings were perceived as more effective in deterring smoking initiation and encouraging smoking cessation than text-only warnings. Several studies also evaluated the effectiveness of a new pictorial warning compared with the old one. However, the relevance of refreshing the pictures of pictorial health warnings and the length of the effective period of the implementation of pictorial health warnings were less frequently studied. Conclusion Pictorial health warnings perceived as more effective in deterring smoking initiation among non-smokers and as well as in stimulating smoking cessation among smokers. Future studies on pictorial health warnings should study the relevance of changing or refreshing pictorial health warning on cigarette packages in a period of time.

Objective The current governmental policies related to tobacco control in Indonesia are known to be not yet effective in reducing tobacco consumption. Therefore, increasing cigarette prices is one of effective instruments that should be supported by governments and public. This study aims to assess public support for cigarette price increase as well as to generate scientific evidence for the government and policymakers. Methods This research is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional design. The data were obtained through phone-based interviews in 1,000 respondents aged ≥ 18 years old in Indonesia. The interviews started on 1 May 2018 and ended on 31 May 2018. Results Respondents in this study were varied in terms of age, gender, level of education, income, occupation, the area of living, and smoking status. This study found that 88% of the respondents including 80% of smokers support cigarette price increase to prevent children from buying cigarettes. Around 66% smokers said they would stop smoking when the cigarette price is Rp60,000 (US$4.3) per package. The multivariate analysis revealed that age, income, cigarette expenditure per day, and perception on the current cigarette price are the predictors of support for cigarette price increase. Conclusions The increase in cigarette prices is supported by the majority of public including smokers. Cigarette price increase is supported by younger people and higher-income groups as they have less expenditure and less likely to smoke. Governments, academics, NGOs, and tobacco control activists should generate the understanding that increasing cigarette prices will improve the quality of life.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), of which the health effects are deemed as less harmful than traditional cigarettes, have been sold in Indonesian market since 2010. We sought to examine the portrayals of e-cigarettes in online news media as they have been the new main source of information among Indonesians. A content analysis was conducted on all news report published by four most popular online news media in Indonesia from 2012 to late 2017. The news reports were obtained by both search methods; within the media websites, and through the Google advance search. The reports were reliably coded for topics of the story, news source, and coverage of benefits and harms of these products. The result shows that of the 418 articles found mentioning e-cigarettes, only 320 articles (76.6%) focused specifically on e-cigarette issues and were included in the analysis. The dominant topics of those articles were regulation or policy updates, and health effects of e-cigarettes (26.6% and 21.6% respectively); while the dominant news sources were scientist/researcher (34.7%) and government officials/policy makers (30.3%). Framing of e-cigarettes are equally or more harmful than traditional cigarettes appeared in 126 articles (39.4%); while framing of e-cigarettes are not harmful or less harmful than traditional cigarettes were used in 63 articles (19.7%). Over time, e-cigarettes were portrayed more negatively (70.9% of total articles) with a sudden three-fold increase in the number of articles published from 2016 to 2017. The outnumbering negative frames of e-cigarette indicated that the online news media tried to influence the public to oppose these products. However, the tendency of dominantly portraying the negative effects of e-cigarettes are inconsistent with the current e-cigarette smoking behaviour in Indonesia. Future research investigating the political economy of media may obtain deeper understanding on how online news media produce their stories.