Media have role to play in quest to control tobacco use

Jul 19, 2017 News

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Guyana’s seriousness about tackling the scourge of tobacco use must be supported by

continuous surveillance. This notion was yesterday amplified by Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Public Health, Mr. Terrence Esseboom.
Esseboom was at the time addressing a forum designed to sensitise media operatives to the Tobacco Control Act.
The sensitization session, which represents collaboration between the Ministry of Public Health and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation, came a few weeks after the first reading of the Tobacco Control Bill in the National Assembly last month.
The Bill is one that seeks the implementation of tobacco control policies in accordance with the World Health Organisation/ Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [WHO/FCTC]. Guyana acceded to the WHO/FCTC on September 2005.
With Tobacco Control legislation in place, the Public Health Ministry hopes to have the wherewithal to protect present and future generations from diseases and addictions caused by tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.
Moreover, it will serve to prevent exposure of the public, especially minors to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship while enhancing public awareness of the hazards of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.
But Guyana cannot only be reliant on surveillance to strengthen Tobacco Control legislation. “It must maintain a ban on advertising,” even as efforts are made to “impose hefty taxation on the industry.”
According to Esseboom, the latter measure has been shown universally to discourage tobacco use. “It must be visionary to plug all the loopholes that industry operatives will use as counter-measures and this includes smuggling,” the Public Health Ministry stressed yesterday.
To achieve the mandate of tobacco control, Esseboom amplified the need for Guyana to utilise

the WHO’s six MPOWER measures.
The measures are Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; Protect people from tobacco use; Offer help to quit tobacco use; Warn about the dangers of tobacco; Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and Raise taxes on tobacco.
But the support of the media cannot be underestimated. Esseboom said that both the Public Health Ministry and PAHO/WHO “want you the media to help us fight smoking with your pens. We want you to help us convince the world that the ‘pen is mightier than the smoke’.”
According to Esseboom, in the anti-tobacco fight, media messages must be short, clear and well studied.
“We want you to ensure that your well-studied messages are emotionally stimulating without being sensational.”
Also speaking at yesterday’s forum was Chairman of the Georgetown Public Hospital, Ms. Kesaundra Alves. Alves, speaking in the capacity of a qualified Public Health Lawyer, underscored that the tobacco epidemic is one that is not merely spread by infection but by promotion and advertisement.
In her presentation yesterday she too emphasised the need for a ‘Ban on Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship’ [TAPS]. According to Alves, “TAPS glamorises tobacco use by associating the use of tobacoo products with positive social and personal images.” She has essentially concluded that the tobacco epidemic translates to the tobacco industry being the vector and the TAPS being the virus.
Making direct reference to the daunting local situation, the Public Health lawyer revealed that 56.8 percent or over half of current smokers who usually buy their cigarettes in a store were not refused purchases because of their age.
She said that the percentage of students who were offered a free cigarette by a cigarette company in 2000 amount to 11 percent. That percentage climbed to 12.5 percent in 2004, according to Alves. This was in spite of the fact that some 50 percent of students reported that they had been taught in classes the past school year about the dangers of tobacco.

There is a great deal yet to be done to combat the challenges of tobacco use.
This is in light of the disclosure of the Coordinator of the Chronic Diseases Unit of the Public Health Ministry, Dr. Kavita Singh. According to Dr. Singh, the state of affairs that exists is that the tobacco epidemic among youth smokers is on the rise.
She pointed out that cancer is the fourth leading cause of premature mortality in Guyana with lung cancer accounting for almost 10 percent of all cancer cases. Since smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer, Dr. Singh lamented the fact that without the implementation of Tobacco Control legislation, there exists no law to protect the population even from the dangers of second hand smoking. Added to this, she said that there exists no comprehensive cancer prevention and control plan.
“Tobacco use is a cross cutting risk factor for all non-communicable diseases [NCDs] which absorbs an estimated 48 percent of the national health budget,” said Dr. Singh.
Moreover, with support from stakeholders, including the media, it is anticipated that the dangers of tobacco will continually be amplified and help to create the needed change.
In was with a view of realising change that WHO had long issued a clarion call for countries to prioritise and accelerate tobacco control efforts as part of their responses to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Moreover, tobacco control has been enshrined in the WHO-engineered Sustainable Development Goals. In fact tobacco control is seen as one of the most effective means to help achieve the SDG target of one-third reduction globally, by 2030, of premature deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, cancers and chronic obstructed pulmonary disease.
Strengthening the implementation of the WHO/FCTC in all countries is an additional target to be met by governments developing national sustainable development responses.

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