Even though India is the world’s second largest consumer of tobacco, Goa has the lowest incidence of tobacco use in the country, says the first Global Adult Tobacco Survey. Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called for a ‘jihad’ against tobacco after releasing the report in New Delhi on Tuesday. An estimated 274.9 million Indians – around a quarter of the population – use tobacco, he said.
In terms of region, the north eastern states have the highest number of tobacco users, with 19.3 per cent of people using tobacco in one form or the other. Mizoram tops the list with nearly 40 per cent of users, while Goa is at the bottom with 4.8 per cent.
The survey was conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, an autonomous organisation of the ministry, with technical assistance from the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and RTI International. It interviewed 69,296 adults (15 years and above), including 33,767 men and 35,529 women. The sample size was 72,000 households and the survey was carried out in 19 languages.
India accounts for around a sixth of the world’s tobacco-related deaths; nearly 0.9 million people die of tobacco-related causes in India annually, out of 5.5 million worldwide. India is also the world’s third largest producer of tobacco, the report added.
“Eight to ten lakh persons die of tobacco-related diseases every year. This reflects a higher mortality than the combined deaths resulting from major diseases like TB, HIV-AIDS and Malaria,” Azad added. This is despite the fact that three in five (61 per cent) of tobacco users notice the health warning on tobacco packages, the report said.
The report revealed widespread tobacco use among youth, with more than 15 per cent of youngsters under 15 years of age, and nearly 25 per cent of those between 15 to 17 years consuming tobacco. The figure for those in the 18 to 19 age bracket was 19 per cent. The mean age of starting tobacco use was found to be 17.8 years. Surprisingly, while the mean age for boys was 18 years, for girls it was 17 years.
“As a result of stringent tobacco control initiatives by developed countries, the tobacco industry has shifted its base to the developing world. Countries such as India are being targeted as potential markets,” Azad complained. Education levels were found to have little effect on tobacco consumption. The mean age of tobacco use for those educated below primary level was 17, and for those with secondary education and above was 19.
The ban on smoking in public spaces, too, seems to have had little effect, as much of the tobacco consumption in the country is through chewing tobacco and ‘gutkha’. Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi has called for clearer pictorial warnings and controlling the practice of chewing tobacco.
Azad said that his ministry had tied up with the agriculture ministry to make a ‘comprehensive’ plan to move tobacco farmers and workers out of the industry, and provide them alternative livelihoods, like changing to other cash crops.
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