A pilot project «School without tobacco and nicotine» has started in Kyrgyzstan. Press service of the Ministry of Health and Social Development reported.

The project was initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Four schools were selected for it — the educational complex of school-gymnasium No. 38 and school-lyceum No. 74 in Bishkek city; secondary school named after R. Mamyraliev in Dzhal village (Chui region) and the secondary school named after A. Builash uulu in Naryn.

Online discussion of the project took place yesterday in the WHO office, in which experts from Kazakhstan also participated. They told about their experience in implementation of a similar project.

The meeting participants touched upon the issues of influence of tobacco on the younger generation, methods of delivering information, taking into account the psychology of schoolchildren.

The ministry added that in 2019, the Department of State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance conducted a study on the use of tobacco products among young people at the age of 13-15. Six percent of schoolchildren consume various types of tobacco, 4.4 percent consume tobacco, 2.4 percent smoke cigarettes, 2.4 percent consume smokeless tobacco, 17.2 percent have consumed tobacco, 13.2 percent have smoked cigarettes, and 9.6 percent have consumed other types of tobacco.