Photo: CFP

The proportion of smokers in China who want to quit is "the second lowest" among 31 countries with high numbers of heavy smokers, tobacco control experts said at an anti-smoking advocacy event in Beijing on Tuesday.

The overall and daily smoking cessation rates in China were 20.1 percent and 15.6 percent respectively, according to a survey on Chinese adults in 2018.

Only 16.1 percent of smokers said they planned to quit within 12 months, and those who were going to quit within 30 days accounted for merely 5.6 percent, according to the survey. 

It's not easy to help smokers to quit. Xiao Lin, Deputy Director of the Tobacco Control Office under the Chinese Center of Disease Control (CDC), said that since 2014 the office has been working to help build smoking cessation clinics nationwide.. 

"Many people don't think of smoking addiction as a disease," said Cui Xiaobo, Deputy Director of the Beijing Tobacco Control Association, at the event on Tuesday. However, nicotine addiction has been listed as a disease by the World Health Organization, Cui added.

China set goals to keep its smoking rate among people above 15 years old under 24.5 percent by 2022 and 20 percent by 2030, according to a document released by the Healthy China Promotion Committee under the State Council.

To achieve the goals, Cui and Xiao suggested the government improve its smoking cessation service system and include smoking cessation drugs into the health insurance program. 

"Smoking cessation is a primary measure for the prevention and treatment of various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases as well as malignant tumors," they noted.