The story of a poster and a new campaign that saves lives: Let's protect our children from smoke
👋 Hi everyone, it's Alex for another story. A little less funny this one, but let's try anyway!
Today, I really want to talk to you about a problem that we don't always see, but that kills: passive smoking. You know, those cigarettes lit without thinking, that smoke that escapes and that everyone breathes?
Here, in the ultra-rural villages of Indonesia, smoking is an ingrained habit. There are no regulations of course, to protect non-smokers. Result: children, pregnant women, entire families inhale an invisible poison every day.
The figure is frightening: More than 1.2 million people die each year from passive smoking.
It is not smokers who suffer the most, but those who have never chosen to breathe this smoke. Kids develop lung infections, babies are born weaker, adults get sick without ever having touched a cigarette, women have miscarriages and so many other serious health problems.
So, we decided to act. With Kawan Baik, we are launching a new massive prevention campaign, the 7th (see the others that are still in progress here)
A simple but striking poster, printed on a resistant fabric, which will travel from village to village with our Kawan Sehat Health agents, as part of the Primary Medical Care program. Not just a message fixed on a wall, but a call for awareness, a daily reminder: do not smoke near children, pregnant women, those who have not chosen to be intoxicated.
See the immense risks here by clicking on this link, in our glossary.
Why this poster and this new campaign? Because here, classic prevention campaigns do not reach remote villages. Because there are no laws to ban smoking in public places. Because no one has yet told residents that this smoke, which they think is harmless, is slowly killing their loved ones.
We want this poster to speak to everyone, to challenge them, I personally think we have succeeded. We want families to know that they have the right to ask smokers to move away, for schools to protect children, for public spaces to become breathable. Smoke is not inevitable.
This campaign starts in March 2025, and we will go all the way. We will not stop until this message is anchored in every home. You can help us: talk about it, share this poster, protect those who have no choice.
Because breathing should never be dangerous.
💡 Discover our poster here in large format and join the movement here.
💡 Read the article we wrote about it that explains this new campaign.
💡 And all the other campaigns (there are seven posters) here by clicking on this link.
See you soon. Alex Wettstein |
