Gambia: Tobacco Accounts for Six Million Deaths Annually

Source from:  The Daily Observer 05/28/2014

The Health Promotion officer, at the World Health Organisation (WHO), Momodou Gassama revealed that globally tobacco accounts for almost 6 million deaths each year, which includes 600,000 deaths from exposure to second-hand smoke, and that it's projected to increase to 8 million by 2030.

Gassama made this disclosure on Saturday in an interview with the Daily Observer during a three-day training sensitisation on Non-Communicable-Diseases (NCD), at Somita in Foni in the West Coast Region.

The aim of the training was to teach both men and women about the four common dangerous NCDs, such as Cancer and Tobacco, Diabetes, Hypertension and Physical Inactivity. The training that is funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO), gathered various associations and groups. Gassama said the majority of the deaths come from low-income countries, as they have the bulk of the smokers. He revealed that WHO estimated that over 1.3 billion smokers are in the world today and that 80% of the smokers are in the developing countries. Gassama revealed that about 3.2 million deaths is annually attributed to insufficient physical activity and approximately 1.7 million deaths are also attributable to low fruit and vegetable consumption.

According to him, these estimations means that they are going to see more NCDs spreading in the developing countries in years to come, as people continue using lot of tobacco. "Thus, as far as tobacco is concerned whether people smoke it or inhale it, they are all dangerous to a human being."

The Health Promotion officer said that Non-Communicable-Diseases (NCD) are also known as Chronic Diseases and are not passed from one person to another, noting that they are of long duration and generally slow in progression. "The four main of types of NCD's are cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks and stroke), cancer, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary diseases and asthma) and diabetes," he revealed.

According to him, NCD's already disproportionately affect low and middle-income countries where nearly 80% of NCD deaths occur. Gassama remarked that NCDs are the leading causes of death in all regions except Africa. But currently, he said, projections indicated that by 2020 the largest increase in NCD deaths would occur in Africa.

Therefore, Gassama noted that the WHO, in collaboration with the MoHS&W deems it fit to train local people so that they can disseminate the information to other people. At the WHO, he said, they are working closely with the government to help in strengthening the capacity of health workers and the people who matter to be able to disseminate information.

The Health Promotion officer further stated that they also help the Ministry of Health to develop a National Non-Communicable-Diseases Policy and strategic plan in addressing the four risk factors of NCDs.

Modou Njie, the director of Health Promotion and Education, for his part, said that the aim of the training is to ensure that everybody in the country knows about NCDs, especially its factors such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and physical inactivity.m Their primary focus, he added, will be in the rural areas, saying the incidence of NCDs is very common in the rural and is also one of their intervention areas. While thanking WHO for funding the training, he said, they are embarking on a journey to reduce the non-communicable-diseases in the country.

The director of Health Promotion and Education then urged the participants to make the best use of the training and disseminate the information to others. Enditem