President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced that the government is considering giving a cash incentive to residents if the entire population of an island stops smoking.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Muizzu said a decision has been reached during this week's cabinet meeting to conduct a study on giving a cash incentive to residents of smoke-free islands.
“The relevant ministers have been told to prepare and submit a paper on a study on providing a cash reward or incentive deposited in the bank account of every citizen if the entire population of the island quits smoking,” he wrote.
Muizzu earlier decided to include in the tobacco master plan the provision of financial incentives to smoke-free islands.
“The President has decided to introduce an award to recognize socially active anti-tobacco individuals and tobacco-free islands and to provide financial assistance to a social cause of such islands,” the President's Office said in October last year.
Similar initiatives have been undertaken in the Maldives in the past, during the government of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. In 2019, the Cancer Society of Maldives and Bike Maldives conducted a programme to award a bicycle to people who quit smoking.
Muizzu gave the cabinet 11 days to prepare the tobacco master plan. The deadline for submission of the master plan ended on October 27, 2024. However, the master plan has not yet been finalized. However, the government has taken multiple measures against tobacco.
These include a generational ban on smoking for anyone born after January 1, 2007, a tobacco tax hike and a total ban on vaping.
