The Drug De-Addiction / Psychological Counselling Cell of Govt. Degree College for Women, Kathua on the occasion of World Tobacco Day organised the webinar on the topic “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference” today on 1st June, 2024 to shed light on the current scenario of drug abuse, social and financial exploitation of people, youth in particular. The event was organised under the guidance of Dr. Savi Bhel esteemed Principal of the college. She emphasised on organizing such events on regular basis.
The webinar was held at GDC(Women), Kathua and featured active participation from a variety of departments, including Health, and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kathua. The eminent speakers for the webinar were Dr. Vishal Mahajan, Chief Scientist and Head KVK Kathua and Dr. Reetika Gupta, M.D. (Pathology).
During the opening remarks, Dr Renu Gupta, Convener of Drug De- addiction/ Psychological cell said that this day plays a key role in raising awareness among people about the potential health risks associated with tobacco use. This includes the risk involved in the dangers of smoking and the use of tobacco products causing health issues like cancer, heart disease, stroke and respiratory illnesses.
The theme for World No Tobacco Day 2024 is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference”. The message is to protect future generations and ensure a constant decrease in tobacco consumption. Every year, World No Tobacco Day is observed to make people aware of the potential health risks and advocate efficient policies to reduce tobacco consumption. This day is a reminder of several health risks like heart disease, stroke, cancer and some respiratory illnesses. Smoking is fatal to health causing millions of deaths every year imposing a huge burden on healthcare systems.
During the keynote address, Dr. Vishal Mahajan said that preventing tobacco product use among youth is critical to reducing tobacco use among the nation’s youth. It’s very important to sensitize our youth on the subject of tobacco abuse. They are ruining the lives of our youth and putting their future in a great darkness. Tobacco product use is started and established primarily during adolescence. Nearly 9 out of 10 adults who smoke cigarettes daily first try smoking by age 18. Flavorings in tobacco products can make them more appealing to youth.
Dr. Reetika Gupta during her address emphasized that Adolescents are the most vulnerable population to initiate tobacco use. It is well established that most of the adult users of tobacco start tobacco use in childhood or adolescence. There has been a perceptible fall in smoking in the developed countries after realization of harmful effects of tobacco. The tobacco companies are now aggressively targeting their advertising strategies in the developing countries like India. Adolescents often get attracted to tobacco products because of such propaganda. There has been a rapid increase in trade and use of smokeless tobacco products in recent years in the country, which is a matter of serious concern to the health planners. It is important to understand various factors that influence and encourage young teenagers to start smoking or to use other tobacco products. The age at first use of tobacco has been reduced considerably. However, law enforcing agencies have also taken some punitive measures in recent years to curtail the use of tobacco products. This paper focuses on various tobacco products available in India, the extent of their use in adolescents, factors leading to initiation of their use, and the preventive strategies, which could be used to deal with this menace.
The whole event was supervised by Dr Renu Gupta, Convener of Drug De- addiction/ Psychological cell. Prof. Seema Jolly, Dr. Inderjeet Kour, Dr. Deepshikha Sharma, Dr. Rachna Devi, Prof. Romika Bhasin, Dr. Ambika, Prof. Surbhi Gupta, Dr, Kamini Kapoor ,Dr. Sonika Jasrotia, Dr Ajay Sanotra and Dr. Gurpreet Kour member of the cell also played a vital role in making a event successful. The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Ajay Sanotra, member of the Drug De- addiction/ Psychological cell.