One of the posters that was done by students of Warsop All-Age School in Trelawny which made them the winners of the Health Services World No Tobacco Day Poster competition.
Smoking is recognised as the single most preventable cause of death worldwide. Deaths caused by tobacco-related diseases such as cancer, heart and lung diseases are mostly premature and should be considered avoidable. Nicotine, a significant component of tobacco products, is an addictive drug as potent as cocaine or heroine. Tobacco dependence has been classified as a mental and behavioural disorder, according to the WHO Classification of Diseases.
In Jamaica, smoking usually starts during adolescence with more than a third of our children starting to smoke before age 10. Approximately 15 per cent of 13 to 15-year-olds smoke; most of them at home. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is also high and, as shown by the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (Jamaica, 2000), more than 50 per cent of schoolchildren who have never smoked had been exposed to tobacco smoke in public places.
Tobacco smoking and cancer
In developed countries about 30 per cent of cancer deaths are attributable to tobacco smoking. Lung cancer is linked to men who smoked from an early age and to those who smoked for longer or gave up for shorter periods.
Lip cancer is associated with pipe smoking and cancers of the tongue, mouth and back of the throat are associated with cigarettes, cigars, pipes and bidis. Cigarette smoking is also associated with cancer of the pancreas, bladder and the kidney, and a cancer of the blood called acute myeloid leukaemia.
Heart and lung disease
Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for strokes and for coronary heart disease (including to heart attacks). Smokers are also more likely to die from respiratory heart disease, aortic aneurysm (swelling of a large blood vessel) and chronic obstructive lung disease which causes persistent and irreversible shortness of breath.
Other diseases
Smokers are more likely to have peripheral vascular disease causing poor circulation, stomach and duodenal ulcers, cataracts in the eyes, hip fractures and a disease of the teeth and gums called periodontitis. They also have a greater chance of having cirrhosis and cancer of the liver. Overall, the death rate in tobacco smokers is double that in lifelong non-smokers. Smoking is a significant cause of premature deaths in men 35 to 69.
Prevention
The overarching objective is to reduce the number of smokers in the population by implementing health policy which controls tobacco use, particularly among young people. Peer and community counsellors are helpful in promoting the prevention of tobacco use, especially among economically disadvantaged youth and other high-risk persons.
We should also support efforts to prohibit smoking in public places. Every effort should be made to increase awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco products. Individuals who decide to stop smoking can obtain assistance at the Jamaica Cancer Society or from physicians who are specially trained to help with smoking cessation.
Dr Pauline Williams-Green is a family physician and president of the Caribbean College of Family Physicians; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
