According to Agence France-Presse, on September 2, a two-year-old Indonesian boy who smoked about 40 cigarettes a day has kicked the habit after receiving intensive specialist care, said a child welfare official。
Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him drawing heavily on cigarettes appeared on the Internet in May and drew attention to Indonesia's failure to regulate the tobacco industry。
"He has quit smoking and the most important thing is he doesn't ask for cigarettes anymore," national commission for child protection secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait told AFP。
Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy was smoking two packs a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied。
Accompanied by his mother, the boy left his village on Sumatra island in July to undergo treatment in the capital。
"He received psychosocial therapy for one month, during which therapists kept him busy with activities and encouraged him to play with kids of the same age," Sirait said，"We diverted his addiction from cigarettes to playing."
Ardi's case has highlighted the tobacco industry's aggressive marketing to women and children in developing countries like Indonesia, where regulations are weak and many people do not know that smoking is dangerous。
Sirait said the government had given financial support to Ardi's parents, who were ignorant of smoking's dangers and used cigarettes to keep the toddler happy as they worked long hours at a street market。
"Ardi was very happy when he left Jakarta this morning as he has really missed his father in the village," Sirait said。
據法新社9月2日報道，一位兒童福利官員說，一名原來一天大約抽40支煙的兩歲印尼男童在接受特殊治療后已經成功戒煙。
當阿爾迪•罩扎爾大口抽煙的視頻5月份出現在網上時，他震驚了全世界，也引起了人們對印度尼西亞缺乏煙草業監管的關注。
全國兒童保護委員會秘書長西拉伊特對法新社說：“他已經戒煙成功，最重要的事情是，他再也不要煙抽了。”
阿爾迪的父親讓他抽第一支煙六個月后，這個男孩每天抽兩包煙，如果煙癮得不到滿足，他還會大發脾氣。今年7月，這名男童在母親的陪伴下離開了自己位于蘇門答臘島的村子，前往首都進行治療。
西拉伊特說：“他接受了長達一個月的心理治療，在此期間，治療師讓他一直忙于參加活動，鼓勵他和同齡的孩子們玩。我們將他的嗜好從吸煙轉移到了玩耍上。”
阿爾迪的案例表明，煙草企業在印度尼西亞等國大力向婦女和兒童推銷香煙，因為這些國家的監管松解，很多人并不知道吸煙的危害。
西拉伊特說，印尼政府已經給予阿爾迪父母經濟上的支持。阿爾迪的父母不僅忽視了吸煙的危害，而且當他們在街市上長時間工作時，還用煙來讓阿爾迪高興。
西拉伊特說： “由于阿爾迪非常想念住在村子里的父親，所以當他今天早上離開雅加這時表現得非常高興。”
