The manager of the Blendana Hotel, located in the Benishangul region of northwest Ethiopia, is enjoying the hotel’s new status as a smoke-free environment. “Before, hotel workers were uncomfortable with customers smoking tobacco indoors,” he says. “Second-hand smoke exposure is a matter of public health,” says Heran Gerba, head of Ethiopia’s Federal Food and Drugs Authority. “Our most recent data shows that nearly one-third of adults – that’s 6.5 million people – working indoors are exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace, and a further 8.4 million are exposed at home. “The declaration of smoke-free environments is very good,” he says, noting that smoking in hotels is now illegal in his area.

Source: Ethiopian News June 02, 2022 13:28 UTC