By IANS,
New Delhi: Over two million pregnant women in India consume tobacco products, a shocking figure revealed by the Indian health ministry Saturday.
“It is shocking that over 8.5 percent of the ante-natal mothers in India are tobacco users,” said Jagdish Kaur, in-charge of the tobacco control programme in the health ministry.
She said though the number of tobacco users are mostly men, yet the number is too big, especially for the pregnant women.
There are at least 25 million successful pregnancies every year in India.
Jagdish Kaur said that though the government has taken several steps in curbing the use of tobacco, “cessation is the most neglected part”.
She said there are 61 tobacco cessation centres (TCC) in India, directly under the supervision of the government but more needs to be done. “The most important thing is awareness and community participation against this.”
“Smoking should be made unfashionable. This can reduce the number of smokers definitely,” R.P. Vashisht, head of the smoke free Delhi initiative of the government said at a function organised by Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and the pharma company Pfizer.
Speaking at the occasion, WHO technical officer (tobacco control) Dhirendra Sinha said in the south-east Asia, comprising of 11 countries including India, tobacco is a major threat to life.
“There are around 40 million tobacco users in the region. The number of Indians of these are 30 million,” said Sinha, adding that 80 percent are non-cigarette smokers.
He said the problem with India is that the number of people who are quitting tobacco is too less. “Ex-tobacco users are less than five to six percent. That means less number of people have quit smoking.”
Viraj Suvarna, head of the medical affairs and research at Pfizer said that all over world, thousands of people are dying due to tobacco consumption and their company has now helping doctors in creating awareness, setting up TCCs and partnering with voluntary organisation to spread the message of tobacco control.
“We believe smoking cessation is an ideal platform for the private sector to support existing government initiatives. For a more comprehensive outreach program it is important to engage with multiple stakeholders like NGOs, hospitals and the media. We are at a juncture where there is a grave need to educate the people on the benefits of tobacco cessation,” Suvarna added.