375 People Quit Smoking in 2025, How Can We Help More People Succeed?

In the Maldives, that progress has a number: 375 people successfully quit smoking in 2025, according to the Health Protection Agency.

Behind that number are real people. People who made a difficult decision. People who struggled through cravings, routines, stress, and social pressure. People whose families now breathe a little easier. Their success deserves to be recognized.

But their success also raises an important question: how do we help more people reach the same point?

The Maldives has an estimated 113,000 tobacco users. Out of them, only 2,003 people sought cessation support in 2025. That means just around 1.8% of tobacco users accessed the help available to them.

Among those who did seek support, 18.7% successfully quit. That shows something important: when people reach the support system, it can work. The challenge is that most tobacco users are still not reaching it.

Over the past two years, the government has taken strong steps on tobacco control. Vaping products were banned, a generational tobacco ban was introduced, and tobacco taxes were increased by 200%. The country also strengthened cessation services, trained 494 health workers, introduced the National Quit Line, and created incentives for islands that achieve full cessation.

These are not small efforts. They show commitment. They show that the Maldives is serious about reducing tobacco use.

But the numbers also show that more needs to be done.

Quitting is rarely simple. For many people, smoking is tied to stress, routine, work breaks, social circles, and years of habit. Most people do not wake up one morning and stop forever. Many try, fail, try again, reduce, relapse, and slowly find their way out.

That is why cessation support needs to meet people where they are.

International evidence suggests that countries may see better results when they offer different pathways for different smokers. Some people may be ready to quit immediately. Others may need gradual reduction. Some may need counselling. Others may need medical support, follow-ups, or safer regulated alternatives that help them move away from cigarettes.

Bangladesh offers a recent example. In April 2026, the country adjusted its tobacco control approach after finding that strict uniform restrictions had pushed some products into underground markets without significantly reducing smoking rates. Its new approach focuses on guiding people away from cigarettes while keeping alternatives within regulated legal systems, where safety standards and taxation can apply.

For the Maldives, the lesson is not to copy another country exactly. The lesson is to ask whether our current system gives enough options to people at different stages of quitting.

The Maldives is already ahead in many ways. The generational ban is forward-thinking. The investment in cessation services is significant. The intention is clear.

But intention alone is not enough. Outcomes matter.

If only 1.8% of tobacco users are accessing cessation support, the next step must be to bring more people into that system. That means stronger outreach, more visible quit services, easier access, better follow-ups, and a more realistic understanding of how difficult quitting can be.

The 375 people who quit in 2025 prove that change is possible. Now the goal should be to turn hundreds into thousands.

World No Tobacco Day should not only be about telling people to stop smoking. It should be about asking what kind of support they need to actually succeed.

Because quitting is not always an instant switch. For many, it is a journey. And the more pathways we create, the more people we can help reach the end of it.