Subrata Biswas
World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. The day is celebrated worldwide to encourage abstinence from all forms of tobacco usages. The day also eyes to draw people’s attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative impacts on human health. Every year the World Health Organization sets a theme for the day. This year the theme of the day is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference”.
In 1987, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA40.38, designating 7 April 1988 as “a world no-smoking day.” The following year, Resolution WHA42.19 established 31 May as World No Tobacco Day, an annual event to highlight the global tobacco epidemic and the preventable illnesses and deaths it causes. World No Tobacco Day aims to draw international attention to the harmful effects of tobacco and encourage efforts to combat its use.
World No Tobacco Day is officially celebrated on May 31 in Bangladesh, like other countries, to highlight the harmful effects of tobacco and increase public awareness.
The use of tobacco and tobacco products is increasing the threat to public health day by day. Due to tobacco, heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, oral cavity cancer, diabetics, asthma are increasing in a rapid pace. These diseases are fatal, treatment is expensive and have severe consequences. Still, about 44 percent of the country’s adults consume tobacco.
Out of which some percentage of users take tobacco through smoking and some percentage of consumers take smokeless tobacco. However, the study found that the rate of smokeless tobacco use was higher among women than men. Smokeless tobacco products like jorda, gul, white leaf et also cause irreparable lung damage. It contains more than 30 types of cancer-causing chemicals.
Tobacco products are available to buy at lowest prices in Bangladesh. As a result, tobacco use is higher among the poor. That is why the impact of tobacco on the economy of Bangladesh is very negative. More than twice the amount of revenue that the government earns from all tobacco products is spent on the health sector to treat tobacco-related diseases.
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use and secondhand smoke are responsible for about 12 percent of heart disease related deaths. Tobacco use ranks second only to hypertension as a cause of heart disease. According to the latest data from the US-based The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), between 2005 and 2016, heart disease has risen from 7th to 1st place in the list of causes of premature death in Bangladesh, and this change rate is about 53 percent. And tobacco is the fourth leading cause of death.
Smoking not only harms the users, but also those who come next to them are not immune to its harmful effects. Even if they don’t want to, secondhand smoke is being accepted, causing health damage. Secondhand smoke causes both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Especially children, women and unborn children are affected. Due to the dire health and economic risks caused by the use of tobacco products in the country, the Hon’ble Prime Minister announced to make Bangladesh tobacco-free by 2040 at the South Asian Speakers Conference held in 2016.
Local government ministries can play an important role in reducing the consumption of tobacco products by establishing control over the sale of tobacco products. We know that institutions like City Corporation, Municipalities, Union Parishads are institutions under the jurisdiction of local ministries. Currently, tobacco products are being sold from grocery stores to department stores. When a license is issued it specifies exactly which business is being licensed. Therefore, a grocery store cannot sell tobacco products. In this case, the law is clearly violated. In this regard, if the Ministry of Local Government issues directives to the local government institutions under its purview to properly monitor the licenses they have issued. Then the sale of tobacco products will decrease to a large extent.
Currently, the usages of tobacco among children and adolescents have increased at an alarming rate.
The role of parents in reducing tobacco use among children and adolescents is immense. Children and adolescents will be saved from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine products if parents do these things properly by giving children enough time, taking care of them, and to look into about their friends.
