Activists worry over early smoking

Activists are concerned about individuals who are initiated into smoking during childhood and puberty.

The activists  said in Uganda, people start smoking at the age of nine years with the majority being raised in tobacco-cultivating communities.
 They have also revealed that tobacco smoking is high among people aged between 16 and 40.

“In our survey, we found out that smoking is high among low income earners and it’s high at the age group of 16 to 40.  Smoking is not high among the rich people, it is common among the economically frustrated people.” Mr Joel Sawa, the team leader at Tobacco Harm Reduction Uganda, said during a media briefing in Kampala yesterday.

He added: “In universities and high schools, we found out that students were smoking shisha in clubs. More women were smoking shisha than men and men were smoking cigarettes. The students attributed smoking to peer pressure and identity crisis.”

Reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that more than 15 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls aged 13 to15 years start smoking annually. WHO estimates that tobacco kills 204 Ugandans weekly, which is more than HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, accidents, and crime put together.
According to WHO, one in every 10 persons in Uganda, smokes cigarettes daily. 

The economic cost is also astronomical; with tobacco use accounting for an estimated $126 million (Shs476.7 billion) in direct medical care for adults and indirect costs due to lost productivity as a result of premature mortality and morbidity.
As a result, activists have called upon the government to come up with an alternative to replace tobacco saying that in 2015, Uganda enacted the tobacco law which bans any promotion and use of tobacco but the law has not worked.
The Tobacco Control Act, 2015, bans tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. 

The law also provides for increasing the size of health warnings on tobacco packages to provide messages such as “smoking harms your health and those around you” complete with graphics images illustrating tobacco-associated illnesses such as throat cancer.
“The government should avail other alternatives to tobacco smokers because putting in place the law does not stop or reduce smoking among the youth,” Mr Sawa said.

Adding: “There are various alternatives like electronic cigarettes which are 95 percent safe, nicotine patches, nicotine tablets, nicotine gums that diffuse nicotine in your body which kills the diffuse to smoke and also nicotine inhalers.”
Mr Sawa urged the Ministry of Health to come up with policies to create awareness and make the alternative products known to the public.