PHNOM PENH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has given a World No Tobacco Day Award 2021 to Cambodia for its efforts to control tobacco use.

WHO representative to Cambodia Li Ailan on Friday presented the award to Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng at a ceremony held in capital Phnom Penh.

Li congratulated Cambodia on its continued efforts to control tobacco use, saying that effective tobacco control measures would help reduce poverty and enhance people's health and wealth.

"Each year, tobacco-related illnesses claim about 15,000 lives in Cambodia; however, I have seen that Cambodia has made great strides in tobacco control and the use of tobacco in the country is currently on the decline," she said.

Bunheng said since 2015, the kingdom has taken major measures to reduce tobacco use including the enactment of a law on tobacco control, ban on smoking at public areas and workplaces as well as implementation of large pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages.

Cigarettes and tobacco cause heart disease, strokes and cancer.

According to the health ministry, it is estimated that the Southeast Asian nation has approximately 1.68 million smokers, spending about 201 million U.S. dollars a year on cigarettes. Enditem

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