WORLD No-Tobacco Day on May 31 will be observed in Myanmar by a series of special events and is also likely to be of special significance to patrons at two Yangon cafes which are believed to be the first in the capital to establish no-smoking areas.

A total ban on smoking is in force at the Eugenia café on Baho Road in Sanchaung township and the newly-opened Goody cake and coffee shop on Signal Pagoda Road in Bahan township has banned smoking on its upper floor.

The owner of the Eugenia café, U Myat Swe Myint, a non-smoker, introduced the ban the week after the Thingyan traditional new year festival in mid-April.

The café’s manager, Ko Aung Moe San, said the ban was introduced because customers who smoked disturbed those who shun the habit.

Ko Aung Moe San said he had been pleasantly surprised that the ban had no effect on business.

“We didn’t lose any regular customers,” he said. “Those who want to smoke go outside.”

Customers who smoke had no complaints about the ban, Ko Aung Moe San said.

“It’s working well,” he said.

In line with its policy on smoking, the café does not sell any tobacco products.

The manager of the Goody cake and coffee shop, Ma Win Win Kyi, said the top floor of the two-storey glass-fronted premises had been declared a no-smoking area for the convenience of customers.

“Non-smokers can’t stand the smell of cigarettes,” she said.

The manager of the Health Department’s Tobacco Free Initiative, Daw Nyo Nyo Kyaing, welcomed the move by the two cafes.

“Every restaurant, tea shop and cafe should have smoking and no-smoking zones,” she said.

Myanmar has observed World No-Tobacco Day since 1989 but government efforts to restrict tobacco use began 30 years earlier when smoking was banned in cinemas.

In more recent years, smoking has also been banned at hospitals, in buses and planes, and at airports, ports and railway stations.

Schools joined the list of designated no-smoking areas in 2002.

In April, Myanmar became the 11th of 192 countries to ratify the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Two years ago, the Health Department launched a Tobacco Free Initiative project to raise community awareness about the dangers of tobacco consumption.

The project was launched under the guidance of the National Tobacco Control Committee.

Under guidelines set by the National Health and Tobacco Control committees, all forms of tobacco advertising have been banned since April last year.