The Eastern Regional Director of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says it is an offence to send any person below 18 years of age to buy tobacco and tobacco products.

Samuel Kwakye said laws against smoking in public places would be strictly enforced to help protect society from the high damage that tobacco causes to the body.

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the observation of the World No Tobacco Day Koforidua and the Ghana advocacy agenda on Non-Communicable Diseases. 

The programme was organized by the Stroke Association Support Network- Ghana (SASNET-Ghana) in collaboration with the Ghana Non-Communicable Disease Alliance (GhNCDA).

Dr Armel Abu, Eastern Regional Coordinator of NCD said two out of every ten people who visited the hospital in the Eastern Region were suffering from NCD.

He explained that the main issues that influence the cause of NCDs were, smoking, eating of unhealthy diets,  physical inactivity and abuse of alcohol.

Dr Abu said the Koforidua Regional Hospital had initiated a scheme where healthy people could walk in to check their blood pressure, sugar levels and other medical check-ups as a way of controlling the impact of NCDs in the region.

He said the Regional Hospital run various specialized clinics for various NCD so that people suffering from NCDs could get access to treatment.

Mr Ebenezer Ad- Adams, National Vice Chairman of GhNCDA called for the respect of the rights of people suffering from NCDs.

He called for efforts to ensure that the National Health Insurance Scheme covered the full treatment of NCDs to give relief to people living with the disease.

Mr Ad-Adams called for meaningful involvement of people suffering from NCDs in the development of policies and programmes on the treatment of NCD.