Belgium, Uganda: Public Smoking Ban Reduces Premature Deaths - Report

Source from:  (Kampala, Uganda) Monitor (ug)  02/22/2013

A study that evaluated the results of a ban on public smoking has found that it reduces the number of pre-mature births. The findings, conducted by the Hasselt University in Belgium and published in the British Medical Journal, confirm that smoking bans significantly reduce the risk of preterm delivery.

The researchers analysed whether the recent Belgian smoking bans had any effect on pre-term births. And to do this, smoke-free legislation was introduced in Belgium in three different phases; firstly, they banned smoking in public places and workplaces, they then banned smoking in restaurants, and finally banned it in bars that also serve food.

Researchers then evaluated more than 600,000 births over the last decade after each phase and recorded a sharp decline in babies born before 37 weeks. This new scientific evidence comes after Scottish research in 2012 found a similar pattern although experts could not fully state whether the smoking ban was the cause of the drop in premature births.

Data from the World Health Organisation shows that smoking and exposure to tobacco can reduce birth weight and increase the risk of premature birth.

The manager for the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa, Dr Possy Mugyenyi, said existing evidence shows that mothers who actively smoke, the second hand smokers, as well as those who tend to tobacco, are at a high risk of having premature babies resulting from green leaf disease contracted directly from tobacco use.

Dr Mugyenyi said a more comprehensive law to regulate tobacco use is required. While laws on public smoking were effectively implemented in Belgium to achieve the results, the National Environment Regulations Act 2004 in Uganda remains on paper. Enditem