Health minister Dr Fenton Ferguson says efforts by the Government to implement laws to ban smoking in public places is aimed at protecting the health of citizens.

Dr Ferguson, addressing a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Constant Spring Wednesday at the Mayfair Hotel in St Andrew, said the matter is not personal, but a responsibility he has to deal with as health minister.

"My position is not just an anti-smoker position. It is a position born out of the fact that as minister of health, I have a responsibility to protect the health of the nation," he stated.

The Government is seeking to put in place a tobacco control act that will protect citizens from the harmful effects of tobacco smoking, by prohibiting its use in public areas and workplaces. The legislation is in the draft stage and the minister has committed to bringing it to Parliament early in the 2013/14 financial year.

Dr Ferguson asked club members for their support, noting that the move will not be "an easy task relative to the tobacco industry and tobacco lobbyists".

He said six million persons are dying annually from tobacco smoking and 600,000 from passive smoking, just from being in the same space with someone who smokes.

Statistics from the 2008 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey show that by the age of 16 years, 19 per cent of smokers had initiated smoking, and 14.5 per cent smoke cigarettes, while 13.5 per cent admit to marijuana use.

Turning to the matter of non-communicable diseases, the minister cited statistics to show that these conditions are the leading cause of death in Jamaica today. He stated that an estimated 80 per cent of heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes, and 40 per cent of cancers, could be avoided through healthy diets, regular physical activity, avoidance of tobacco use, and a reduction in alcohol intake.