INDIA is reported to have lost half a million of its people to the pandemic over
the past two years.
Suneel Vatsyayan
The government should take a considerate view of public health and significantly increase taxes on all tobacco products and legislate in favour of tobacco control by amending the COTPA Law. Both steps shall achieve a significant reduction in the use and afford- ability of tobacco products to reduce its use and facilitate India’s march towards sustainable development goals.
This is despite that the fact that the situation had complete societal attention and everyone worked towards minimising it. However, there is something equally serious and catastrophic that we are dealing with right now. The menace of tobacco use. It kills an estimated 1.35 million Indians every year. Scientific studies estimate that the consumption of tobacco results in the death of more than 3,500 Indians every single day. According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4) conducted in 2019 by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has the second-largest number (27 crore) of tobacco users in the world and of this 13 lakh die every year from the tobacco- related diseases. The casualty is more than double the total deaths caused by the recent pandemic.
Tobacco use is a major risk factor for several non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic lung diseases. Nearly 27% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage.
Another worrying thing about this man-created pandemic is that about 27 crore people above the age of 15 years and 8.5% of school-going children in the age group 13-15 years use tobacco in some form in India. The annual economic burden on India due to tobacco-related diseases is over 1,77,340 crore. Do these numbers scare you? It must. The crazy part of this news is that these are the deaths and loss- es that are completely avoid- able and a stringent tobacco control policy by the government of India can help us counter it substantially.
India is one of the early signatories of the tobacco control provisions under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control also called the WHO-FCTC. Read more
Suneel Vatsyayan Chairperson, Nada India Foundation
Source: https://www.ehitavada.com/article.php?id=Mpage_2022-05-31_efc198ff9ffab5f77f9eb3a9bf09224d