Youth warned anew against health pitfalls of smoking, vaping
Jason Roque, division chief of the Health Literacy and Behavior Change Division of the Department of Health, emphasizes that while 93 percent of young people are aware that smoking are harmful and from 96 percent to 99 percent recognize the dangers of vaping, few understand the specific diseases these habits can cause. Roque made the statement during the launch of the 'TobaccOFF NOW' movement, a nationwide campaign aimed at exposing and countering the manipulative tactics of the tobacco industry. The initiative was formally introduced on June 20, 2025 in Quezon City, as part of the country’s observance of National No Smoking Month.
VIDEO BY ALLEN LIMOS
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00:00So that's the goal of the campaigns and the interventions, or we call it social behavior change interventions na ginagawa namin, especially when it comes to priority area 4, which is substance abuse, tobacco and vaping.
00:12Na talagang gusto natin, mapaalam natin sa mga kabataan, alam nyo ba, na 93% ng kabataan, alam naman nila na harmful ang smoking.
00:28Actually, 99% at 96% naman alam nila na harmful din ang vaping, but they don't know exactly what diseases are related to it.
00:38So, alam ng mga kabataan na majority ay harmful, pero hindi nila alam yung mga diseases.
00:46So what we usually do is gusto namin mapaabot sa mga kabataan, ano yung mga health harms na pwedeng makuha nila if they do smoking, if they do vaping.
00:57And we want them to believe in it.
00:59So apart from the messaging on health harms, we also provide messaging on economic issues.
01:08Paano ba pag ginagawa natin na instead na mag-vape tayo ng two pods a day or two pods a week, magkano ang nasa-save natin?
01:17Instead na mag-sigarilyo tayo, magkano kaya yung masa-save natin?
01:21Makakabili na ba tayo ng laptop pag nag-stop tayo ng sigarilyo in one year?
01:26So these are the messages that we want the people or we want the youth to believe also.
01:31So therefore, merong behavior change na mangyayari.
01:35So that's the quick work that we do in the department.
