Early awareness of harmful effects of tobacco among students important: MoHFW

Union Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya on Wednesday emphasized early awareness of the ill effects of tobacco among children while presiding over the release of the National Fact Sheet of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4).

"The more and the sooner, we create awareness among children about harms due to tobacco use, the better will be the outcomes in terms of reduction in the prevalence of tobacco use among children consequently among adults," said Minister Mandaviya.

He also added that the harmful effects of tobacco use must be taught in the school curriculum right from the primary school level.

The fourth round of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4) was conducted in 2019 by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The survey was designed to produce national estimates of tobacco use among school-going children aged 13-15 years at the state level and Union Territory (UT) by sex, location of school (rural-urban), and management of school (public-private). The first three rounds of GYTS were conducted in 2003, 2006 and 2009.

A total of 97,302 students from 987 schools, out of which 544 are public schools and 443 are private schools, participated in the survey. 80,772 students aged 13-15 years were considered for reporting.

The objective of the survey was to provide information on tobacco use, cessation, second-hand smoke, access and availability, exposure to anti-tobacco information, awareness and receptivity to tobacco marketing, knowledge, and attitudes.

The Minister was also apprised of some of the key findings of the survey.

A key finding of the survey is that nearly one-fifth of students aged 13-15 years used any form of tobacco product (smoking, smokeless or any other form) in their lives.

The current use since the last 30 days stands at 8.5%. Between 2009 and 2019, the use declined by 42% in the age group of 13-15.

The survey reported the use of tobacco to be more amongst the boys than girls. As per the survey, the usage among boys is 9.6% and among girls, it is 7.4%.

The use of smoking tobacco products was reported to be 7.3% as compared to 4.1% for a smokeless tobacco product.

The usage of e-cigarettes among students was 2.8%, the survey said.

On the state level, the tobacco use amongst students was highest in states like Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh with 58% each for both states. Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh reported the lowest tobacco use among students with 1.2% and 1.1% respectively.

( With inputs from ANI )