Established in 2011, the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Centre (MTCC) is an institution under the University of Muhammadiyah that works towards creating and increasing awareness and willingness of the people of Indonesia to organize themselves in efforts to reduce the impacts of smoking. The institution’s vision is to create a healthy and independent generation in Indonesia by reducing smoking and the impact of smoking. It does this by conducting research and sharing the research results with the Indonesians and other institutions that are similar to it, holding campaigns against smoking, supporting government policies and institutions that works against smoking, and spreading anti-smoking messages to the Indonesians through any possible means. As of now, the Institution has five full-time researchers based in five different locations, including:Yogyakarta, Purwokerto, Magelang, Surabaya, and Mataram. In all these locations, the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Centre is involved in conducting research on smoking and tobacco, and running activities and holding campaigns directed towards mobilizing the Indonesians to think and act against smoking.

Designs and publications displayed during an anti-smoking seminar held by MTCC (Sarah, 2015)

Since its establishment in 2011, the institution’s only source of funds has been the University of Muhammadiyah, until in 2014 when it started receiving grants from the John Hopkins School of Public Health. These grants are primarily meant for supporting the MTCC’s research activities. With the help of these grants, MTCC has been able to expand research by providing more training to its staff and providing more tools and equipment that are used for the purpose of research. The institution has also been able to develop better communication methods that are used to reach out to the Indonesians concerning smoking.

As of now, the MTCC reaches out to the Indonesians through many means such as public campaigns and programs, social media posts, public lectures, media release, public shows, seminars, counseling sessions, publications, publicly displayed designs, among others. While using all of these means, MTCC utilizes design in order to pass various messages and warn about smoking.

A counselling session held by MTCC (Sugiyo, 2015)

In Indonesia, an anti-smoking initiative such as the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Centre is necessary for the country has some of the extreme cases of smoking. For instance, a government survey conducted in 2012 indicated that around 36% of Indonesian citizens aged above 15 years smoke an average of 12 cigarettes a day (Berry, 2014). This is a very high percentage as compared to other countries such as Afghanistan whose overall percentage in the same year did not even reached 10% (Marie, et al., 2014).

Reference List

Berry, A., 2014. Indonesia pushes for graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. viewed 11th February 2017, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/an-indonesia-pushes-for-graphic-health-warnings-on-cigarette-pa/5547950&gt;.

Marie, N. J., Freeman, M. K. & Fleming, T. D., 2014. Smoking Prevalence and Cigarette Consumption in 187 Countries, 1980-2012. The JAMA Network, 311(2), pp. 183-192.

Sarah, S. 2015. ikut konferensi Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Center (MTCC). viewed 11th February 2017, <http://ainunsarah.blogspot.co.ke/2015/07/ikut-konferensi-muhammadiyah-tobacco.html&gt;.

Sugiyo, D. 2015. MTCC-DINKES KAB.BANTUL Mengadakan Training Konselor Berhenti Merokok. viewed 11th February 2017, < http://mtcc.umy.ac.id/mtcc-dinkes-kab-bantul-mengadakan-training-konselor-berhenti-merokok/&gt;.