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World No Tobacco Day

Where smoking is the leading cause of death and ill health

May 31st, 2017
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Rich countries are hit the hardest but poor ones may soon follow

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/05/daily-chart-22

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TODAY is World No Tobacco Day. Although in most countries the proportion of people who smoke continues to fall, campaigners see the glass as half full. In 24 countries smoking causes the largest share of the overall burden of disease, measured in years lost to ill health and premature death. In another 37 countries it ranks second. Most of these 61 countries are rich. Although their smoking rates are falling, much of the decline is because fewer young people are picking up the habit, rather than because older smokers are quitting. The harms from smoking affect people most seriously after middle age, so countries where smoking became popular a generation or more ago are worst affected—for now.

In poor countries, smoking is still a less important cause of death and disability than several other things, such as dirty water and malnutrition. Few African and Asian women light up—smoking is often socially acceptable only for men. In many of the poorest countries, smoking is still uncommon—though in some it is on the rise. As developing countries grow less poor, other harms will dwindle and smoking will start to look deadlier by comparison.

World No Tobacco Day: Poor almost three times more likely to smoke

May 31st, 2017
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360,000 NI residents still estimated to smoke, with men more likely to light up

http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/health/world-no-tobacco-day-poor-13117577

People in the most deprived areas of Northern Ireland are almost three times more likely to smoke than their better off counterparts according to the Public Health Authority NI.

Considered by the World Health Organisation to be a blight on health, the environment and household income, the international health organisation also revealed today – on World No Tobacco Day – that globally, there are 226million adult tobacco users living in poverty.

And in low income countries over 10% of a smoker’s budget can be spent on tobacco products, meaning less money for food, education and health care.

“Tobacco use hits the poorest people the hardest and exacerbates poverty,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO.

“Spending on tobacco products often represents more than 10% of total household income.

“(It) is a deadly product that kills more than 7million people every year, and costs the global economy more than $1.4trillion annually in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.”

“In addition to posing a serious threat to health,” she added, “tobacco use also threatens development in every country on every level and across many sectors – economic growth, health, education, poverty and the environment – with women and children bearing the brunt of the consequences.”

Closer to home, the Public Health Authority said it is currently estimated that around 320,000 people aged 16 and over smoke in Northern Ireland, with men (23%) slightly more likely to light up than women (21%).

But, in line with global trends, they said there is also a strong link between smoking prevalence and deprivation here, while those in manual occupations are three times more likely to smoke than professionals.

The 2015/16 Health Survey NI found that 36% of respondents in the most deprived areas used tobacco, but this figure is just 13% among the more well off.

And while the number of smokers is falling, with 80% of those who still do forgoing the addiction in their homes and cars, there is still more work to be done.

“Protecting people from tobacco smoke is a key objective set out in the Ten Year Tobacco Strategy for Northern Ireland,” said Colette Rogers, Head of Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement from the Public Health Agency.

“Therefore, the Public Health Agency would welcome a ban on smoking in cars as a means of protecting young people from exposure to second-hand smoke, improving people’s health and helping to reduce the uptake of smoking in Northern Ireland.

“Smoking remains the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in Northern Ireland so we urge smokers to quit by seeking the help of their local stop smoking service.

“In Northern Ireland there are more than 650 free PHA-funded stop smoking services which are run by specially-trained staff who can advise on the best way to stop smoking.

“Services are offered in many community pharmacies, GP practices, HSC Trust premises, and community and voluntary organisations, and can be set up in workplaces.”

Study: China Struggles to Kick World-Leading Cigarette Habit

May 31st, 2017
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Most smokers in China, the world’s largest tobacco consumer, have no intention of kicking the habit and remain unaware of some of its most damaging health effects, Chinese health officials and outside researchers said Wednesday.

http://www.voanews.com/a/china-smoking/3879050.html

An estimated 316 million people smoke in China, almost a quarter of the population, and concerns are growing about the long-term effects on public health and the economy.

The vast majority of smokers are men, of whom 59 percent told surveyors that they have no plans to quit, according to a decade-long study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Canadian researchers with the International Tobacco Control project.

Such numbers have prompted efforts to restrict the formerly ubiquitous practice. Major cities including Beijing and Shanghai having recently moved to ban public smoking, with Shanghai’s prohibition going into effect in March. In 2015, the central government approved a modest nationwide cigarette tax increase.

But Chinese and international health officials argue that more is needed, including a nationwide public smoking ban, higher cigarette taxes and more aggressive health warnings. Such actions are “critically important,” Yuan Jiang, director of tobacco control for the Chinese Center for Disease Control, said in a statement released with Wednesday’s study.

A public smoking ban appeared imminent last year. The government health ministry said in December that it would happen by the end of 2016, but that has yet to materialize.

“They have to figure out what’s important as a health policy,” said Geoffrey Fong of Canada’s University of Waterloo, one of the authors of Wednesday’s study. “Every third man that you pass on the street in China will die of cigarettes. …When you have cheap cigarettes, people will smoke them.”

In line with global trends, smoking rates among Chinese have fallen slowly over the past 25 years, by about 1 percent annually among men and 2.6 percent among women, according to a separate study published in April in the medical journal The Lancet.

Yet because of China’s population growth — 1.37 billion people at last count — the actual number of smokers has continued to increase. Rising prosperity means cigarettes have become more affordable, while low taxes keep the cost of some brands at less than $1 a pack.

Sixty percent of Chinese smokers were unaware that cigarettes can lead to strokes and almost 40 percent weren’t aware that smoking causes heart disease, according to the study, which was released on World No Tobacco Day, when the World Health Organization and others highlight health risks associated with tobacco use.

Judith Mackay, an anti-tobacco advocate based in Hong Kong, said China has made strides with the public smoking bans in some cities and a similar ban covering schools and universities, but that’s not enough.

“This is the first time there has been a report looking at the overall picture of where China stands,” said Mackay, senior adviser at Vital Strategies, a global health organization. “The reality is, it’s falling behind.”

Mackay blamed behind the scenes lobbying by China’s state-owned tobacco monopoly for impeding efforts to toughen tobacco policies. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Government agencies and research institutes in China, Canada and the United States funded the study.

Support World No Tobacco Day – say “no” to tobacco

May 31st, 2017
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To support the World No Tobacco Day 2017, the Department of Health (DH) today (May 31) held a sharing session to remind the public again of the hazards of smoking and to urge smokers to quit smoking as early as possible.

http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201705/31/P2017053100249.htm

Speaking at the sharing session, the Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan, said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has marked May 31 as World No Tobacco Day annually. The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2017 is “Tobacco – a threat to development”, with the aim of demonstrating the threats posed by tobacco to the world’s sustainable development, including public health and the economy. Dr Chan strongly urged members of the public to say “no” to tobacco and to continue supporting the Government’s efforts in tobacco control.

“With the collaborative efforts of the Government and various sectors over the years, the work on tobacco control in Hong Kong has attained pleasing results, with a drop in overall smoking prevalence from 23.3 per cent in the 1980s to 10.5 per cent in 2015. Nonetheless, casualties and economic loss directly and indirectly caused by tobacco remain tremendous. Local studies revealed that tobacco-related fatalities reach nearly 7 000 people annually and the economic loss resulting from tobacco-related health problems is estimated to be about 5.5 billion every year,” Dr Chan said.

“Smoking is a causative agent of many cancers as well as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Smoking causes harm not only to the smoker but also to their family members and friends due to the secondhand smoke induced, which increases their risk of cancer and many other chronic diseases as well as the chance of children developing respiratory symptoms,” Dr Chan added.

Sharing the research findings on local smoking-related mortality and morbidity conducted by the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Chair Professor of the School of Public Health of the HKU, Professor Lam Tai-hing, pointed out that at least one out of every two elderly smokers died of tobacco-related diseases. He said that the Government must continue to adopt various tobacco control measures to encourage smokers to quit the habit.

The Head of the Tobacco Control Office of the DH, Dr Lee Pui-man, introduced in the sharing session 12 new pictorial health warnings on cigarette packets, which better inform the public about the specific hazards of tobacco use to smokers and their families. Experience and evidence from the WHO and around the globe also demonstrate that pictorial health warnings are an effective intervention, and increasing the size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packets is now an international trend.

“The graphics and designs of health warnings should be updated regularly so as to maintain their salience and enhance the impact. The Government updates pictorial health warnings coupled with multiple tobacco control measures to discourage members of the public from smoking and encourage smokers to quit,” Dr Lee said.

Smokers who intend to quit smoking can call the DH’s Integrated Smoking Cessation Hotline on 1833 183, where registered nurses provide professional counselling services on smoking cessation and will also refer service users to suitable social service agencies for follow-up when necessary. To enhance smoking cessation services to smokers, the DH will launch a pilot public-private partnership programme this year to trial a new mode of smoking cessation service supported by family physicians.

In addition, the DH will collaborate with a renowned medical institution, Mayo Clinic, in the United States to organise an online training programme on tobacco dependence treatment, which will be rolled out within this year. Family physicians joining the programme will acquire skills and knowledge on smoking cessation via e-learning, and their capacity in providing smoking cessation services will be further enhanced through training and assessment. The programme aims to ensure that they can provide quitters with effective evidence-based treatment.

In addition, two patient representatives shared their experience of smoking at the sharing session, ranging from smoking-related diseases to successfully quitting the habit. They urged other smokers to quit smoking as early as possible and to seek help on smoking cessation if necessary.

Ends/Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:18

World No Tobacco Day, 31 May 2017

May 31st, 2017
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CLEAR THE AIR HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU:

May 31st, 2017
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Big investors warn against tobacco investment on World No Tobacco Day, but smoking in Europe is still stubbornly high

May 31st, 2017
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Today marks the passing of the 30th World No Tobacco Day, designed to encourage smokers to abstain for a day in the hope that they might quit.

http://www.cityam.com/265672/big-investors-warn-against-tobacco-investment-world-no

Yet it seems the annual event is doing little to help people kick the habit, despite support from big investors such as Axa and Calpers who are using the day to encourage a reduction in tobacco investment.

According to a survey of EU citizens, published by the European Commission to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, there has been no decrease in the number of daily smokers since 2014 – and even an increase among 15- to 24-year-olds.

“The increase in youth smoking rates illustrates the urgency for member states to enforce the provisions of the Tobacco Products Directive, which forbid attractive cigarettes aimed at enticing young people,” said EU commissioner for health and food safety Vytenis Andriukaitis.

The directive, which came into force in May this year, forbids tobacco manufacturers from marketing products as flavoured and requires them to cover 65 per cent of the packaging in health warnings.

Yet the overall smoking rate in the EU has remained at 26 per cent since 2014 and has risen from 25 per cent to 29 per cent in people aged 15 to 24.

Smoking in the UK sits fairly well below the European average, with 17 per cent of the population taking a daily puff.

Greece, Bulgaria, France and Croatia all rank highly, with smoking rates in each country above 35 per cent. Yet in Sweden, only seven per cent of people will regularly smoke a tobacco product.

Axa, Calpers, Scor and AMP Capital are putting their weight behind the push to quit, sponsoring the world’s first global investor statement on the subject.

It aims to “make visible the strong support within the financial community” for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) framework on tobacco control and encourage stakeholders to act against tobacco investment, Axa said.

Axa and AMP Capital divested from tobacco last year, while Calpers did so 17 years ago and has since widened its ban to include externally managed funds.

The substance kills more than seven million people each year according to WHO, which has coordinated World Tobacco Day since the first event in 1988, and costs households and taxpayers more than $1.4trn (£1.1trn) in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.

Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to receive WHO World No Tobacco Day Award

May 30th, 2017
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The World Health Organization (WHO) will distinguish Colombia, Ecuador and Peru with its 2017 World No Tobacco Day Award, which recognizes institutions, organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the fight against smoking in their country.

http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13381%3Acolombia-ecuador-y-peru-recibiran-el-premio-del-dia-mundial

In total, 29 countries from all regions of the world will be awarded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the framework of World No Tobacco Day (31 May), whose theme this year seeks to highlight the threat posed by tobacco to social development.

The winners have contributed to the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its Protocol for the Elimination of Illicit Trade.

The three winners of the award in the Americas region are:

  • Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia and the Citizens coalition to oversee tobacco control policy (Veeduría ciudadana para el Control de Tabaco).
  • Internal Revenue Agency of Ecuador (Servicio de Rentas Internas – SRI).
  • Ministry of Economy and Finance of Peru.

The awards to the winners of the region will be presented by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organisation, starting on May 31.

The FCTC was the world’s first health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO and went into effect in 2005. A legally binding accord, it commits States Parties to implementing a series of tobacco control measures aimed at reducing tobacco consumption and saving lives.

In the Americas, 30 countries have ratified the Convention, and a number have made significant progress in implementing its provisions, particularly smoke-free indoor public spaces and health warnings on tobacco packages.

Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half its regular users when consumed exactly as the manufacturer intends. Worldwide, approximately 14 persons die from a tobacco-related disease every minute, equivalent to nearly 7 million lives lost each year.

World No Tobacco Day 2017

May 30th, 2017
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World No Tobacco Day 2017: Beating tobacco for health, prosperity, the environment and national development

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/no-tobacco-day/en/

Action to stamp out tobacco use can help countries prevent millions of people falling ill and dying from tobacco-related disease, combat poverty and, according to a first-ever WHO report, reduce large-scale environmental degradation.

On World No Tobacco Day 2017, WHO is highlighting how tobacco threatens the development of nations worldwide, and is calling on governments to implement strong tobacco control measures. 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.

Tobacco’s health and economic costs

Tobacco use kills more than 7 million people every year and costs households and governments over US$ 1.4 trillion through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.

“Tobacco threatens us all,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “Tobacco exacerbates poverty, reduces economic productivity, contributes to poor household food choices, and pollutes indoor air.”

Dr Chan adds: “But by taking robust tobacco control measures, governments can safeguard their countries’ futures by protecting tobacco users and non-users from these deadly products, generating revenues to fund health and other social services, and saving their environments from the ravages tobacco causes.”

All countries have committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to strengthen universal peace and eradicate poverty. Key elements of this agenda include implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and by 2030 reducing by one third premature death from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including heart and lung diseases, cancer, and diabetes, for which tobacco use is a key risk factor.

Tobacco scars the environment

The first-ever WHO report, Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview, also shows the impact of this product on nature, including:

  • Tobacco waste contains over 7000 toxic chemicals that poison the environment, including human carcinogens.
  • Tobacco smoke emissions contribute thousands of tons of human carcinogens, toxicants, and greenhouse gases to the environment. And tobacco waste is the largest type of litter by count globally.
  • Up to 10 billion of the 15 billion cigarettes sold daily are disposed in the environment.
  • Cigarette butts account for 30–40% of all items collected in coastal and urban clean-ups.

Tobacco threatens women, children, and livelihoods

Tobacco threatens all people, and national and regional development, in many ways, including:

  • Poverty: Around 860 million adult smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have shown that in the poorest households, spending on tobacco products often represents more than 10% of total household expenditure – meaning less money for food, education and healthcare.
  • Children and education: Tobacco farming stops children attending school. 10%–14% of children from tobacco-growing families miss class because of working in tobacco fields.
  • Women: 60%–70% of tobacco farm workers are women, putting them in close contact with often hazardous chemicals.
  • Health: Tobacco contributes to 16% of all noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) deaths.

Taxation: a powerful tobacco control tool

“Many governments are taking action against tobacco, from banning advertising and marketing, to introducing plain packaging for tobacco products, and smoke-free work and public places,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for NCDs and Mental Health. “But one of the least used, but most effective, tobacco control measures to help countries address development needs is through increasing tobacco tax and prices.”

Governments collect nearly US$ 270 billion in tobacco excise tax revenues each year, but this could increase by over 50%, generating an additional US$ 141 billion, simply from raising taxes on cigarettes by just US$ 0.80 per pack (equivalent to one international dollar) in all countries. Increased tobacco taxation revenues will strengthen domestic resource mobilization, creating the fiscal space needed for countries to meet development priorities under the 2030 Agenda.

“Tobacco is a major barrier to development globally;” says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO’s Department for the Prevention on NCDs. “Tobacco-related death and illness are drivers of poverty, leaving households without breadwinners, diverting limited household resources to purchase tobacco products rather than food and school materials, and forcing many people to pay for medical expenses.”

“But action to control it will provide countries with a powerful tool to protect their citizens and futures,” Dr Bettcher adds.

Editor’s note

Tobacco-related illness is one of the biggest public health threats the world faces, killing more than 7 million people a year. But tobacco use is one of the largest preventable causes of noncommunicable diseases.

Tobacco control represents a powerful tool in improving health in communities and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG target 3.4 is to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one third by 2030, including cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, and diabetes.

Another SDG target, 3.a, calls for implementation of the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The WHO FCTC entered into force in 2005, and its Parties are obliged to take a number of steps to reduce demand and supply for tobacco products. Actions addressed in the Convention include protecting people from exposure to tobacco smoke; banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; banning sales to minors; requiring health warnings on tobacco packaging; promoting tobacco cessation; increasing tobacco taxes; and creating a national coordinating mechanism for tobacco control. There are 180 Parties to the Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Paul Garwood
WHO Department of Communications
Telephone: +41 22 791 15 78
Mobile: +41 79 603 72 94
Email: garwoodp@who.int

Christian Lindmeier
WHO Department of Communications
Telephone: +41 22 791 1948
Mobile: +41 79 500 6552
Email: lindmeierch@who.int

World No Tobacco Day: Effects of shisha or hookah on the heart

May 30th, 2017
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Did you know 163.7 million in India consume these smokeless variants and are prone to cardiac ailments?

http://www.thehealthsite.com/news/world-no-tobacco-day-effects-of-shisha-or-hookah-on-the-heart-b0517/

According to statistics, about 6 million people in India die every year due to tobacco consumption and approximately 163.7 million users consume only the smokeless variants like sheesha (shisha or hookah). But still, the number of people dying due to tobacco consumption every year is higher than that due to tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, and malaria put together. Be it tobacco smoking or use of smokeless tobacco like hookah, every form of tobacco contains more than 30 cancer-causing substances along with nicotine which can cause irreparable damage to the body.

Effects of Shisha on the heart

Dr Manoj Kumar, Associate Director & Head, Cardiac Cath Lab, Max Super Specialty Hospital, Patparganj, New Delhi, says, ‘Smokeless tobacco and sheesha affect the heart in multiple ways. Inhalation of the high levels of carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, leading to an overall drop of oxygen circulating in the body. This causes a drastic increase in the heart rate and blood pressure leading to a lot of exertion on the cardiovascular system. People addicted to such forms of tobacco are more prone to cardiac arrest, high blood pressure, stroke, haemorrhage, blood clot and other heart-related ailments. People with a risk of cardiac ailments or a history of cardiac arrest have twice the risk of mortality if they continue the usage of snuff or other smokeless tobacco products even after an attack.” Here are more side effects of hookah.

Is a sheesha bad for you?

There is no safe form of tobacco. Smokeless tobacco and sheesha, two other variants of tobacco, are equally harmful to heart health. Those forms of tobacco which are not burnt are termed as smokeless. Sheesha, on the other hand, is a form of fruit-flavored tobacco which is roasted in a foil along with charcoal and passed into a small chamber of water through a glass-bottomed pipe, which is then inhaled slowly. The WHO points that the total volume of smoke and carcinogens inhaled during an hour-long session of sheesha is equivalent to smoking 100 to 150 cigarettes with an average sheesha user inhaling approximately one-sixth of a litre of smoke in just one inhale.

Dr Santosh Kumar Agarwal, Senior Interventional Cardiologist, Kailash Hospital and Heart Institute, Noida, says “All forms of tobacco are dangerous to smokers and non-smokers alike. The nicotine in tobacco is what makes people addicted to it. Whether it is smoking or chewing, tobacco damages blood vessels, temporarily raises blood pressure and lowers exercise tolerance. It also reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Blood clots in the arteries can further cause a range of heart problems, which ultimately result in a stroke or sudden death.’ Read more on hookah or cigarettes, which is more harmful?

How to quit smoking hookah?

Here are some tips to try and quit this deadly habit.

1. Try short-acting nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine gum, lozenges, nasal sprays, or inhalers. These can help you overcome intense cravings.

2. Identify the trigger situation, which makes you smoke. Have a plan in place to avoid these or get through them alternatively.

3. Chew on sugarless gum or hard candy, or munch raw carrots, celery, nuts or sunflower seeds instead of tobacco.

4. Get physically active. Short bursts of physical activity such as running up and down the stairs a few times can make a tobacco craving go away. Also read about 7 simple ways to control the urge of ‘just one puff’!

Disclaimer: TheHealthSite.com does not guarantee any specific results as a result of the procedures mentioned here and the results may vary from person to person. The topics in these pages including text, graphics, videos and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.

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