Philippines: Study Shows Poor People Spend More on Tobacco

Source from:  Philippine Information Agency 12/08/2014

Based on a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the poorest households in the country spent a larger proportion of their meager income on tobacco than on food, education, health care or savings.

The study showed that a Filipino household with an average monthly income of P5,100 spent 2.6　percent of its income on tobacco, 1.3 percent on education and another 1.3 percent for health care.

"The figure only shows that tobacco use tends to be higher among poor people. Tobacco users are also have higher risk of falling ill and dying prematurely of cancers, heart attacks, respiratory diseases and other tobacco-related diseases," said Allan Sibal, health education and promotion officer of the Department of Health (DOH) during the Regional Tobacco Control Network meeting here.

Sibal added that Filipinos are among the heaviest tobacco users in the world.

"We are among the top 20 nations with the highest smoking population," he further stated.

Given the results of the study, Sibal said that they are now planning to collaborate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to include non-smoking as one of the conditions of its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), where the beneficiaries are the country's poorest households.

Once realized, he added that the partnership will ensure that the monthly cash grants of household-beneficiaries will spend on vital necessities. Enditem