Today, May 31 is celebrated as World No Tobacco Day which aims to inform the public about the dangers of using tobacco. The days also sheds light on the business practices of tobacco companies, what WHO is doing to fight the tobacco epidemic, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.
Adolescent smokers on the rise
According to the GYTS data from 2009 to 2019, smoking saw an increase from 4.4% in 2009 to 7.2% in 2019, among boys rising from 5.8% to 8.1% and among girls from 2.4% to 6.2%.
This alarming trend among adolescent girls comes even as smoking rates among adults have declined, with a 2.2 percentage point drop in men and a 0.4 percentage point reduction in women.
Tobacco use was almost thrice among men (42.4%) than women (14.2%). The prevalence of tobacco use increased with the increase in age and this was true for both smoking and SLT products with tobacco.
The use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems was reported, “with a sample of 2037 urban school-going children in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad reported ever ENDS use to be 4.12% and current ENDS use to be 2.2%. This indicates the increasing popularity of these products among the youth despite the ban.”
Why are people smoking more?
Adolescents have been reported to resort to tobacco use due to stress, peer pressure, curiosity or marketing strategies of the tobacco industry.
According to the report, regions in India, such as Goa and the Northeastern States, show a nearly equal prevalence among genders indicating that the gender gap in tobacco use among adolescents is narrowing. In 2019, 7.4 per cent of girls and 9.4 per cent of boys were tobacco users.
“Ever since the regulation to issue warnings when scenes of smoking appear on screen was introduced in 2012, we saw a decline in smoking on screen. However, with OTT platforms, where content without warning was uploaded, there was an increase in onscreen smoking…,” Professor Monica Arora, public health scientist at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).
It is not always the consumer, the fault also lies with the marketing of the cigarette manufacturing companies. “Women have largely been an untapped demographic for tobacco companies. This is the reason girls have become a prominent target, with images of smoking as fashionable and a sign of women empowerment,” Arora further said.
“There is also a worrisome trend of propagating e-cigarettes as safe when they aren’t. They are easily available on portals or in the grey market and are sold without verifying the consumer’s age, completely in violation of the laws,” the professor said.
Tobacco’s Effect on Health
Evidence shows that smokers have 31% to 55% higher risks of premature death than non-smokers due to all causes. The risk of premature death is higher in younger smokers as they had started smoking earlier and smoked more cigarettes or bidis per day than older smokers.
SLT (Smokeless Tobacco) use by women in pregnancy can lead to anaemia, low birth weight (LBW) or stillbirth. Smoking during pregnancy can lead to LBW, gestational diabetes mellitus or maternal mortality. Men who use tobacco are also likely to be infertile.
Tobacco use in any form, as well as exposure to SHS, increases the risk of disease and death due to coronary heart disease and stroke. Tobacco smoking increases the odds of diabetes by 3 times in India.
Tobacco Cessation; MPOWER policies
In collaboration with the MoHFW (GoI), WHO established 13 tobacco cessation clinics (TCCs) across the country in 2002. Subsequently, this number rose to 19.
At 6 weeks follow-up at TCC, 14% had quit tobacco, and 22% reported that their tobacco use had decreased by 50% or more.
The national tobacco control programme follows the MPOWER policies to control tobacco in India. MPOWER stands for M: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; P: protect people from tobacco smoke; O: offer help to quit tobacco; W: warn about the dangers of tobacco; E: enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and R: raise taxes on tobacco.
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