Research has shown that awareness level on the dangers of tobacco use and second-hand smoking is still very low among Ghanaians most especially children and the illiterate, health experts say.
There has also been a very serious and disturbing delay in passing the Tobacco Bill into Law, more than six years since it was taken to the Cabinet of the previous regime under John Agyekum Kuffour for endorsement. Up till date, no one knows the fate of that Bill as the absence of a law has made the Tobacco industry to now adopt very subtle and more sophisticated ways in packaging and advertising cigarettes and other tobacco products recklessly. For instance, western films, and recently, Nigerian and other African movies are dangerously being used to advertise tobacco and promote smoking among the youth.
While all these things are happening, there seems to be no serious action from any quarters, both within and outside government to curtail them. The media, which is acclaimed for setting the national agenda, is rather tight-lipped and has focused on politics much to the relegation of this horrible practice. Civil society organizations have also lost their voices and health professionals are not doing enough.
But the Northern Regional Health Promoter, Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Yakubu, says all is not lost yet and encouraged all health professionals to take it upon themselves to offer counselling to patients whom they come into contact with at any particular period.
Speaking at the launch of the 2010 Health Week Celebration of the Federation of Ghana Medical Students’ Association (FGMSA)/University for Development Studies Medical Students’ Association (UDS-MSA) in Tamale, he maintained that health professionals have the opportunity to help people change their behavior and they can give advice, guidance and answers to questions related to the consequences of tobacco use, thereby help patients to stop smoking.
Studies have shown that even brief counseling by health professionals on the dangers of smoking and the importance of quitting is one of the most cost-effective methods of reducing smoking, he added, saying “your professional responsibility extends beyond the treatment and care of tobacco-caused disease to include prevention and cessation.”
Statistics have indicated that there are more than one billion smokers in the world and 5 million deaths per year due to tobacco. Tobacco kills one in two long-term users. If the current consumption patterns continue, the number of deaths will reach 10 million per year by 2020, of which 70% will occur in developing countries.
In Africa, 13.5% of boys and 5.2% of girls smoke cigarettes. The prevalence of the use of other tobacco products is around 11.3%. About 44% of young people in Africa are exposed to second-hand smoke in public places.
From the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey of 2003 and 2008, the Northern Region has the highest percentage (17.7%) of men who smoke cigarettes in Ghana. Tobacco use among the youth is also quite alarming. The 2005 Global Youth Tobacco Survey in Ghana revealed that 14.3 of students of Junior High Schools have ever tried smoking cigarettes, whiles 4.8% currently smoke cigarettes. 17.2% currently use other tobacco products while 16.5% of never smokers are likely to start smoking.
Seriously, tobacco threatens sustainable development in the world’s poorest nations including Ghana through disability and premature death, high personal and national economic costs and environmental damage. Besides, acute smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung disease, adverse developmental effects, peptic ulcer disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, low sperm count and among others.
In a statement, President of UDS-MSA, Wewoli Bentil Awe, explained that the FGMSA is body which seeks to unite all medical students in the country in the various Universities. Adding that, the health week was replicated in all member associations in the country.
According to him, the annual health week is an important part of the federations’ social responsibilities of creating public awareness on certain key areas of public health importance, thus every year the health week is geared towards addressing a particular health need of the public, for this reason medical students are sent to stay in districts throughout the country to embark on health education on the theme of the health week.
This year’s theme which is: “Caring for the lung, breath is life”, placed special emphasis on the hazards of tobacco and snuff use. Against this background, the theme seeks to channel its education towards stopping smoking, tobacco and snuff usage which has financial and economic burden on families and long term implications on development of lung cancer in the adult population.
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