In marking World No Smoking Day, which is commemorated every May 31st, the Ghana Non-Communicable Disease Alliance (GhNCDA), together with other civil society groups, has stated a number of risks, including the Coronavirus (Covid-19), that smokers are exposed to.
The group urging the public against tobacco use includes the Vision for Alternative Development, People Living with NCDs, Institution for Leadership and Development, Media Alliance in Tobacco Control or Health, Community Health Support Team and Jaishi Ghana.
According to them, the tobacco industry and allies are deploying various devious tactics to manipulate young people to go into smoking, despite the dangers it will expose them to.
As a result, the group marched against the use of tobacco yesterday, under the global theme: “Promoting youth from industry manipulation and preventing them from tobacco and nicotine use.”
It has been observed that the tobacco industry is increasingly targeting young people as an emerging vulnerable market for its addictive product. This makes it a pressing issue and a challenge for tobacco control policy-makers in every country, including Ghana.
Labram M. Musah, Programmes Director for Vision for Alternative Development and National Coordinator for GhNCDA, leading the group, said smoking tobacco and other substances increases one’s risk of contracting the Covid-19 due to the negative impact they have on the human immune system.
Some of the health chronic challenges are cancer, lung disease, cardiovascular diseases and other forms of non-communicable diseases.
He said World Health Organisation (WHO) and public health champions around the world, in observing World No Tobacco Day, placed emphasis on the achievements and progress made so far towards a tobacco-free world.
Mr Musah noted that this year’s theme seeks to debunk the myths and expose devious tactics employed by the tobacco industry and their allies, saying, “it is also aimed at providing young people with the knowledge required to easily detect industry manipulation, and equip them with the tools to rebuff such tactics, thereby empowering young people to stand up against them.”
He worriedly said 2015 data shows that 17% of young people under the ages of 15 and 24 smoke worldwide.
According to him, the tobacco industry is well aware that a person who starts smoking before their early 20s is not only more likely to develop an addiction, but may also have an impaired to exercise control over smoking later in life.
He states: “The tobacco industry, in recent times, has engineered strategies to target children through packing and branding. This is evident in the recent explosion of interest in e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
“One of the most significant innovations by the industry involves its marketing strategies. Across sectors, advertising is increasingly moving online, and the tobacco industry is no different, tobacco companies are turning more to social media influencers to market these dangerous products.”
According to him, in Ghana, efforts have been made to control tobacco use, but huge gaps still exist in efforts to protect children and the youth from exposure to tobacco use.
In the Ghana 2017 Global Youth Tobacco Survey in Junior Schools it showed that 8.9% of boys and 8.2% of girls currently use any form of tobacco products. 7.0% of boys and 5.3% of girls currently smoke tobacco, 0.4% and 1.7% of girls currently smoke shisha.
“The average shisha-smoking session lasts an hour, equivalent smoking to 100-200 sticks of cigarettes, but the youth are oblivious of the harm and its deadly effects,” he worriedly said.
He pleaded with the government to multiply the tax on cigarettes in order not to make it one of the cheapest products sold on the Ghanaian market.
Mr Musah further called for a ban of Shisha, while online advertisements of tobacco products are regulated.
The post Tobacco industry manipulating youth to smoke -GhNCDA appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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