Tobacco use among kids in State alarming

August 30, 2021 86 Views No Comment

Survey finds 42.6% children consume tobacco in Nagaland

Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, AUG 30 (NPN) : An alarming trend of high tobacco consumption among students has been found in Nagaland as per a survey conducted by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Union ministry of health & family welfare (MoHFW).

According to the study, 42.6% children in 13-15 years category have been found to be consuming tobacco as against the national average of just a mere 8.5 percent. Conducted as part of national survey by IIPS in 36 States and Union Territories, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey-4 (GYTS-4) 2019 found tobacco consumption among children at 57.9% in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, while Nagaland registered the second highest at 42.6%. (See table)

In Nagaland, GYTS-4 had an overall response rate of 83.4% wherein a total of 1,919 students from 23 schools (eight public and 15 private) participated. And out of the 1,919 students, 1,438 aged 13-15 years were considered for reporting.

On tobacco use, the report stated that 43% of students (62% boys and 24% girls) currently used tobacco products, 27% (46% boys and 7.7% girls) currently smoked tobacco, 20% (37% boys and 4.4% girls) currently smoked cigarette, 21% (38% boys and 4.5% girls) currently smoked bidi and 35% (52% boys and 19% girls) currently used smokeless tobacco.

Access and availability: The study found 85% of current cigarette smokers and 78% of current bidi smokers bought cigarettes/bidis from a store, paan shop or street vendor. Shockingly, 82% of the cigarette smokers and 83% bidi smokers were not refused because of their age.

Purchase of cigarette at a paan shop has been found as the major source for tobacco products with 62.5% boys and 33% girls making the purchase, out of which 65.1% are from rural, while 49.3% are from urban areas.

As per the study, 32.5% of students said the usual smoking place was at social events, while 28.9% and 21.5% cited home and school respectively and 11.8% cited other places.

When contacted by Nagaland Post, H&FW joint director and National Tobacco Control Programme’s (NTCP) State nodal officer Dr Chiekroshuyi Tetseo expressed grave concern over high tobacco consumption at an early age.

The joint director warned that early exposure to tobacco led to stronger addiction, which could lead to life-long use thereby causing tobacco-related ailments.

Tetseo pointed out that students were mostly influenced by people around them like their parents, teachers, health workers, peers, etc, and hence stressed creating a conducive environment for them.

To discourage tobacco consumption, Tetseo suggested measures like ban on sale of tobacco near educational institutions, claiming that aggressive anti-tobacco awareness campaignswere also being carried out.

Tetseo acknowledged that without better coordination and support from school education department and churches, creating awareness on the issue would never succeed.

On the findings of GYTS-4 2019, the nodal officer mentioned that the survey was not extensive unlikethe Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) as the sample size in the former was “quite less”. However, Tetseo admitted that GYTS-4 2019 provided a general picture and trend of tobacco use.

It may be noted that GYTS is a component of Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS), which is a global standard for systematically monitoring youth tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) and tracking key tobacco control monitors.

GYTS is a cross-sectional, nationally representative school-based survey of students in grades associated with age (13 to 15 years). It uses a standard crore questionnaire, sample, designs and data collection protocol assisting countries in fulfilling their obligations under World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to generate comparable data within and across countries.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/tobacco-use-among-kids-in-state-alarming/239281.html