World No Tobacco Day

Friday, 31 May is ‘No Tobacco Day’. The World Health Organisation, WHO set aside the day to drum home the urgent need to encourage smokers to quit smoking and also discourage others from starting. The day is to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the unnecessary death and diseases it associated with it. This is done through education and information on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices by tobacco companies, to entice more people to hook on it, what WHO is doing to fight the epidemic, and what people can also do to claim their right to health and healthy living as well as to protect future generations.

In Ghana, the Ministry of Health figures have it that, 1.3 percent of Junior Secondary School (JHS) pupils start smoking for the first time, with most of them being girls. This is the age group that tobacco manufacturers and marketers target to whip their interest to smoke. There were even some adverts targeting medical practitioners who are aware of the dangers in smoking. This was done in all forms of media and therefore powerful as the media is, many people accepted the message.

Current marketing strategy by tobacco manufacturers, targets the public as current brands of tobacco and it’s products are made to attract and deceive. Smokeless tobacco, Hookahs popularly known as shisha, flavoured little cigars, E-cigarettes, are among the new methods to attract people to smoke but research has shown that an hour of continuous use is equivalent to more than a 100 sticks of cigarette smoked and it is not any safer.

According to the WHO, more than seven million people die annually from using tobacco while 600,000 also die due to second-hand smoking; which is inhaling the smoke from someone. It is also estimated that tobacco use costs households and governments more than one-point four trillion US Dollars through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity. This is not only alarming but also a serious threat to holistic development. These include banning marketing and advertising of tobacco, promoting plain packaging of tobacco products, raising excise taxes, and making indoor public places and workplaces smoke-free.

Indeed, ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship are one of the most effective ways of reducing tobacco consumption. As more countries make progress towards implementing complete bans, the tobacco industry is increasingly using tactics such as brand extension, product placement and stealth marketing to sell its products. In most parts of the world tobacco advertising is now one of the highly regulated forms of marketing. In Ghana, the laws to ban tobacco advertising and sponsoring public events are effectively enforced. The labelling of tobacco and tobacco products has been identified as the most effective measures of increasing awareness and communicate specific health risks such as death, addiction, cancer, stroke, lung and heart diseases.

Governments over the world must therefore stand together to ensure that this is effectively monitored to help reduce the epidemic. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) the body mandated to regulate tobacco use has instituted measures to address this challenge. Currently the government, has passed a new legislative instrument (L.I 2247) to back this purpose and empower the FDA to carry out its mandate in order to reduce the prevalence of tobacco and exposure to the smoke. This is an attempt to protect the people from the health hazards associated with tobacco use.

For instance, the authority is insisting that warning images are embossed on cigarette packs alongside the texts to make it health warnings more prominent to make people more aware of the harm in smoking. The efforts by the Ministry of Health to promote smoking edge and withdrawal Therapy strategy are also commendable. The ministry must further encourage smokers who have the will to quit but feel shy to seek support and assistance to disabuse their minds of stigmatization and seek help. Ghana needs healthy people to attain development and smoking should not be one of the hindrances.

By Nana Sifa Twum.