Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved the National Program that aims to make the country smoke-free by 2025, reports AzerNews.

Turkmenistan was early to place a ban on tobacco advertising in 1998, which was quickly followed by a ban on smoking in universities, public places, on streets, in administrative buildings, and on military installations. In 2002, drivers were forbidden from smoking in their vehicles, reports AzerNews.
The country has been part of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control since 2011 and has since signed off on different resolutions to support a healthy lifestyle and fight tobacco. The National Program is the latest that was created to put effective measures in place that would improve citizens’ health and increase life expectancy by making Turkmenistan a tobacco-free country by 2025, according to AzerNews.