India Launches Country Wide

Source from:  Kuwait News Agency 07/19/2013

The Indian health ministry has initiated an extensive country wide anti-tobacco public campaign.

"Nearly 9 million people die every year due to diseases related to tobacco use in India," the ministry official said. Expressing concerns that everyday 5, 500 youth gets addicted to tobacco use in the whole of India.

"About 50 percent of all cancers in males and 25 percent of all cancers in females can be attributed to tobacco use. Besides 90 percent of all the oral cancers are caused due to smokeless tobacco use," the officials informed.

The nation-wide National Tobacco Control Campaign called "Tears you apart" aims to raise the awareness about the dangers of smokeless tobacco consumed by tens of millions of Indian every day, the ministry said.

The officials said that smokeless tobacco is the most-used form of tobacco in India.

According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) some 200 million Indians use smokeless tobacco out if it's 1.2 billion population. "26 percent of adults consume smokeless tobacco in India - 33 percent of adult males and 18.4 percent of adult females," the survey found.

The public campaign would be run across India and would utilize radio, TV, and other modes of communication to aware people and persuade them to go for tobacco de-addiction. Enditem