Monitoring Compliance and Examining Challenges of a Smoke-free Policy in Jayapura, Indonesia

Abstract

In Indonesia, 61 million adults smoked in 2018 and 59 million were exposed to secondhand smoke at offices or restaurants in 2011. The Presidential Decree 109/2012 encouraged local governments to implement smoke-free policy (SFP) with Jayapura city enacted a local bill (1/2015) in 2015. This study aims to evaluate the compliance and explore the challenges in implementing. We conducted a mixed-methods study. The quantitative method assessed the compliance to six criteria (as per the bill) including having signage, no smoking activity, no selling, no advertisement, no smoke, and no ashtray at SFP facilities. We surveyed 192 facilities including health facilities, educational facilities, places of worship, government offices, and indoor/outdoor public facilities. The qualitative method explored challenges in implementing through by interviewing 19 informants (government officers, students and community). The compliance rate to all six criteria was 17% overall, ranging from 0% at outdoor public facilities to 50% at health facilities. We found no spatial patterning as shown by similar compliance rates between SFP facilities within and outside of 1-kilometer around the provincial and city health offices. Implementation challenges included (a) limited budget for enforcement, (b) lack of support from local non-government organizations and universities, (c) lack of public awareness at facilities, and (c) lack of examples from local leaders. The overall compliance was low in Jayapura city due to many challenges. This provides lessons learnt for tobacco control policy in the areas that are least developed and farthest from the central government.