Public Agenda (Accra)
Wisdom Dzidedi Donkor
29 September 2008
Accra — Over 650 million people across the globe are likely to die by the year 2020 as a result of the intake of tobacco if the current smoking pattern continues. Currently, it is estimated that 10 million deaths are recorded annually.
Dr. Francis Kwamin, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical/Dental School, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, disclosed this in an interview with the Public Agenda in Accra on Friday at the launching of the Second Annual School Health Quiz.
According to him, a recent survey conducted by the Ghana Tobacco Control Program on the smoking habits of Ghanaians reveal some frightening statistics among Junior High School (JHS) students.
He said, 4.8 per cent of the students are currently smoking, 17.2 per cent use other tobacco products and 16.5 per cent of those who have never smoked are likely to start smoking the following year.
He said many of them also suffer from involuntary smoking and said the survey further reveals that 21.9 per cent live in homes where others smoke while 39.9 per cent find themselves around others who smoke in places outside their homes.
26.1 per cent have one or more parents who smoke and 6.1 per cent have friends who are smokers. The irony is that most parents are not aware of their children's smoking habits.
Dr. Kwamin said many of the youth who smoke are likely to suffer from health consequences such as respiratory and non-respiratory effects, addiction to nicotine and the associated risk of other drug use.
He explained that most young people who smoke regularly will continue to smoke throughout adulthood and said cigarette smokers have lower level of lung function than those who have never smoked.
The lecturer noted that Article 8 of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control adopted by all WHO member states in May 2003 gives everyone the right to breathe air not contaminated with tobacco smoke.
Dr. Kwamin said the Convention indicates that all workers have the right to work in places where they are not exposed to the harmful effects of second hand tobacco smoke (SHS).
He stressed that it was therefore imperative for people in authority to increase the awareness that smoking harms not only the person who smokes but also those around him/her.
He called upon the appropriate authorities to legislate smoke free environments to protect non-smokers in public and work places.
The National Quiz Program on Cardiovascular Diseases in Ghana is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health, Ghana Education Service and Ghana Association of Hypertension and Cardiology and sponsored by Sanofi-aventis a global pharmaceutical company. It is aimed at increasing public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases.
Two students from Chemu Secondary School in Tema, who were winners of the last year quiz, are also being sponsored by Sanofi-aventis to Maputo Mozambique for a four-day conference scheduled to begin November 2, 2008. The purpose of the conference is to equip participants with knowledge on cardiovascular so that they could others prevent them.
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