The government should take the temporary ban on alcoholic drink advertising a step further and make the ruling permanent as it endangers the public’s health, a local NGO suggested.
Mom Kong, executive director of the Cambodia Movement for Health, said the ban on alcohol advertising continue indefinitely, as it encourages people to gather and consume alcohol amid the Covid-19 crisis.
"The government will eventually control the February 20 community outbreak, but it could reoccur. So, measures to ban alcoholic drink advertising should be implemented forever," Kong said in a statement on April 21.
He added that the ban on alcohol advertising is in line with the World Health Organisation recommendations to reduce the risks posed by alcohol to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which Cambodia fully supports and is committed to implement.
Kong said consuming alcohol can cause more than 200 diseases and is also a major cause of traffic accidents. It is also behind all kinds of violence and poverty, he added.
Sa Roeung, a vendor at Boeung Keng Kang Market, supported the government's decision to ban alcohol sales during the Covid-19 outbreak.
"The government is doing well, otherwise people will be drinking together and shouting loudly," she said.
Rcently, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith directed owners of all radio and television stations and online media to suspend advertising alcoholic drinks during the lockdown of Phnom Penh and adjacent Kandal provincial town Takmao.
"All radio and television station owners and all online media outlets shall suspend broadcasting all kinds of alcoholic drinks from the date of this announcement until April 30.”
