WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY-2013

WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY-2013

31-O5-2013

(World No Tobacco Day 2013: 6 Million Die Every Year from Tobacco Use, Says WHO)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrates World No Tobacco Day 2013 on Friday31 st May,2013, with the theme "ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship", highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and the need to advocate policies that will reduce its consumption.According to WHO's 'Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases', almost six million people die from tobacco use each year, out of which more than 600,000 die from second-hand smoke.With an aim to curb this epidemic caused by tobacco use, WHO urges all countries on World No Tobacco Day 2013 to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship under the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) article 13, as statistics shows that is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce tobacco demand.

Smoking is estimated to cause about 71 percent of lung cancer, 42 percent of chronic respiratory disease and nearly 10 percent of cardiovascular disease.

The report suggested that deaths due to use of tobacco will increase to 7.5 million by 2020, accounting for 10 percent of all deaths.Surprisingly, nearly 80 percent of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low and middle-income countries, contrasting the notion that people from high-income countries are at higher risk. Over 80 percent of cardiovascular and diabetes deaths, and almost 90 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, occur in low and middle-income countries.The Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases said that low and middle-income countries suffer more with more than two thirds of all cancer deaths occurring in these countries, and the deaths under the age of 60 amounting to 29 percent, compared to 13 percent in high-income countries.The estimated percentage increase in cancer incidence by 2030, compared with 2008, will be greater in low (82 percent) and lower-middle-income countries (70 percent), compared with the upper-middle (58 percent) and high-income countries (40 percent).According to the WHO Global Report on "Tobacco Attributable Mortality" 2012, seven percent of all deaths (for ages 30 and over) in India are attributable to tobacco. Within communicable diseases, the deaths attributed to tobacco use accounted for 5 percent of all deaths caused by lower respiratory infections and 4 percent of tuberculosis deaths.

The Report on Tobacco Control in India (2004) said that nearly 8-9 lakh people die every year in India due to diseases related to tobacco use. It said that up to one in five deaths from tuberculosis (TB) could be avoided if TB patients did not smoke.According to the survey - Global Adult Tobacco Survey- India (GATS) - conducted by Government of India in 2010 in collaboration with WHO and Centre of Disease Control (CDC, Atlanta) covering all states and Union Territories of the country, nearly 35 percent of the population consume one for of tobacco or the other.

Prof. John Kurakar