Ideally, a campaign to persuade people to end self-harming behaviour should envisage a date when it is no longer needed. If only that were true of smoking. Then there would be no need for the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare May 31 World No Tobacco Day, more than 60 years after the US surgeon general officially declared smoking a direct cause of lung cancer. Instead, places that achieve small reductions in the smoking rate are held up as examples to the world.

Hong Kong is a case in point. The WHO has hailed the city’s efforts in recent years which brought the smoking rate down from 9.1 per cent in 2023 to 8.5 per cent among those aged 15 and above in 2025. That might not sound like much, but it is immeasurable in terms of the number of lives it could eventually save. It is also one of the lowest rates among developed economies.

The organisation has given a World No Tobacco Day award to Hong Kong Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau, recognising the city’s progress in tobacco control and in raising public awareness of the harms from smoking and second-hand smoke. It is one of six regional awards each year for outstanding achievements. Lo has noted the city’s successful efforts in regulating alternative tobacco products.

The low smoking rate has inspired the city’s health authorities to redouble their efforts by deploying an AI chatbot developed at the University of Hong Kong to help residents quit smoking as part of its annual “Quit in June” campaign. The drive also offers free nicotine patches and “ear seeds”, a needle-free type of acupressure in traditional Chinese medicine, for smokers in need.

Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office head Dr Manny Lam Man-chung has said it is important to continue to pursue anti-smoking measures “because smoking not only affects public health but also the economy, with studies showing that Hong Kong suffered an economic loss of HK$8 billion [US$1 billion] a year due to [smoking-induced health problems]”.

The government is to be commended for a raft of measures including a ban on the possession of vapes and heated cigarettes in public, with a duty stamp system and plain packaging to follow by December 2027 to combat illicit cigarettes and reduce their appeal.