Health

Smoking jeopardy in India
by Lenka Filipova

Recent study in India has shown alarming results. More than a million deaths are expected a year by 2020 due to ongoing smoking. The most endangered age group is between 30 and 69, in which was found out that one in five of male deaths and one in twenty female deaths were brought by smoking. Further more, it was ascertained that more than 50 percent of deaths is among needy and uneducated people. The study was directed by Prabhat Jha, the member of the Center for Global Health Research. He told that most surprising was the fact that smokers start smoking later than in other countries and what is more, they smoke even in smaller quantities. However, they are running the same or probably more severe risks as in the west countries. The most significant problem seen is that paupers smoke so called "bidis", cheap and small cigarettes which contain one quarter of tobacco of commonly used cigarettes. They are really popular among meager Indian people as they cost only 2 rupees a packet of 10 "bidis" (approximately, 5 US cents or € 0.03) on one side. On the other side, the cheapest normal cigarettes in India cost 1 rupee a piece (that is 2 UC cents or €0.01). The government in India was "knocked down" when realizing the seriousness of the matter. Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss proclaimed that they were going to do their best to fight the smoking crisis. They are aware of the fact that this issue touches mainly illiterate. Consequently, he promised to launch an anti-smoking campaign with pictorial health warnings on packages.

by Lenka Filipova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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posted by Blog TechSource @ 12:33 PM