Reducing children’s exposure to second-hand smoke should be a key priority in combating asthma, according to the health authorities.

Charmaine Gauci, director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Unit, said children were particularly susceptible to health risks from second-hand smoke and were often exposed involuntarily inside the home.

A study in Malta and Sicily last year, found 18.5 per cent of Maltese children aged 11 to 14 were diagnosed with asthma, which causes wheezing, breathlessness and coughing.

Speaking at a seminar marking World Asthma Day on Tuesday, Dr Gauci said tobacco exposure had been shown to increase the likelihood of the development, persistence and severity of asthma as well as reducing the effectiveness of important medicinal treatments.

While the proportion of daily smokers dropped from 23 per cent in 2002 to 20 per cent in 2008, occasional smoking increased from three to six per cent in the same period.

Choose not to smoke if children are present

Over the past year, the Health Promotion Unit ran a national campaign encouraging children to motivate parents to commit to a smoke-free home pledge.

Dr Gauci said the campaign, which included training for PSD teachers and primary school teachers, had proved highly successful, with a number of parents attending smoking cessation classes as a result.

“The key message for our target audience is: choose not to smoke in your home or permit others to do so; choose not to smoke if children are present, particularly infants and toddlers, and if you must smoke, choose to smoke outside.”

Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said his department placed a lot of importance on initiatives to address issues tied to the quality of air and environment, particularly in the south of the island, where asthma seemed to be most prevalent.

He added a pilot study was under way to establish the correlation between indoor environments and child health. It was set in 15 schools and scheduled to be concluded by the end of this scholastic year.

Trained environmental health officers are taking into consideration such indicators as mould, dampness, insufficient ventilation and indoor air pollutants.