Ahead of World No Tobacco Day: Stakeholders raise awareness on harmful effects of tobacco consumption.

The day will be commemorated under the theme: “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference”.

According to the organisers, the campaign aims to raise the awareness of young people on the harmful effects of tobacco consumption on the body. This, the organisers said, aims to advocate an end to the targeting of youth with harmful tobacco products.

Teams from the Ministry of Health, during the campaign, visited the centre of care, support and prevention to addiction best known by its French abbreviation as CSAPA and the Multifunctional Youth Promotion Centres, CMPJ, in Yaounde, Douala, Buea and other cities, to school young people on the risks involved in the consumption of tobacco. 

The experts, during their visits to some neighbourhoods in Yaounde including Madagascar, Obili, Nkomkana and Mimboman, gave educative talks and encouraged the participants to equally share what they have learned with their peers in their various social media groups so the message could get to a wider public.

Reports from the Ministry of Public Health are quoted to have revealed that over 300, 000 young people in Cameroon regularly use tobacco and its by-products. To combat the tobacco epidemic, the member states of the World Health Organisation, WHO, adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and till date, some 182 countries have ratified it. 

Tobacco, it should be said, is manufactured thanks to a psychotropic product made from the dried leaves of common tobacco plants. A species native to America, it belongs to Class Nicotina. There are various types of tobacco, including cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, pipe tobacco, water or chicha tobacco, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and many others.

According to medics, tobacco use is triggered by post-traumatic stress, depression, various psychological and psychiatric conditions, the familiar or socio-occupational environment, sexual violence, weight gain just to name this few.

The consequences are as numerous as they are varied from person to person. Physically, tobacco causes heart problems, lung infections, cancer and hepatitis. Psychologically, it leads to addiction, irritability, sadness and trouble sleeping, causing many especially youth to be confronted with difficulties at school, delinquency, rape and sexual abuse.

According to 2022 data, worldwide, at least 37 million young people aged between 13 and 15 use some forms of tobacco.

WHO, in a recent report, noted that to keep making billions of dollars in revenue, tobacco industries now target youth, so as to replace the millions of customers who die and or quit tobacco use every year.

To attain their goal, the same report reveals that companies create environment that accept the use of tobacco and ensure the product is available and affordable and develops advertising tactics that are appealing to these adolescent, through the various social media platforms.

It should be noted that tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches are gaining popularity among youth as an estimated 12.5 percent of adolescent in Europe used e-cigarette in 2022 as compared to two percent of adults.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No3127 of Friday May 31, 2024