'Help smokers to quit habit' (Spread)

Ghana’s Health Minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, yesterday made an emotional appeal to the public not to condemn smokers but see them as people who need help to get out of the habit.
Dr Kunbour touched the hearts of an august audience of health professionals and media practitioners during the launch of this year’s World No Tobacco Day, which is observed on May 31, each year when he admitted that he had been a smoker before and shared some of the challenges he had to overcome in his effort to quit smoking.
“I have been on that road before so I know what I’m talking about,” he said
Dr Kunbour, who sounded emotional during his address, stated that majority of smokers were aware that the habit was bad but found it difficult to stop due to the addictive nature of the product.
He, therefore, advised the youth against anything which would introduce them to smoking especially movies.
He went ahead to reveal that he picked the habit from frequently watching James Bond movies in which the main character usually smoked cigarettes to calm his nerves.
In his address to commemorate the day, Dr Kunbour said “smoking is the largest avoidable death and a major non-communicable disease worldwide”. The theme for the day was: “Gender and tobacco with emphasis on marketing to women”.
The minister said his ministry, as well as the Ghana Health Service (GHS), would in collaboration with relevant other stakeholders ensure that women and girls would not be duped by the misleading deceptions which lured them into smoking.
He also indicated that both men and women alike must be protected from the tobacco industry marketing and smoking, as stated in the preamble of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework on Tobacco Control.
Delivering the keynote address, the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah Mensah, said according to evidence, women who smoked were more likely to experience infertility and delays in conceiving.
“Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risks of premature delivery, stillbirth and newborn deaths and cause a reduction in breast milk. Women who smoke are at increased risk of developing potentially fatal chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases which include chronic bronchitis and emphysema,” she explained.
The Women and Children’s Minister also mentioned other diseases which affected smokers as cancers of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, larynx, bladder, pancreas, kidney and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukaemia.
Mrs Azumah Mensah said as the nation awaited the passage of the Tobacco Control Bill, the press, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), all other ministries, departments and agencies, as well as the private sector, should team up with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to pursue actions aimed at protecting women and girls from subtle and deceptive marketing strategies of tobacco companies.
The WHO Country Representative in Ghana, Dr Daniel Kertesz, said tobacco use was one of the biggest public health threats that the world ever faced in spite of the fact that the world had for the past 60 years known that tobacco was a killer.
“Not only does smoking kills, but being around smokers even if you don’t smoke also kills.”
?????Touching on the theme, Dr Kertesz said women represented 200 million of the world’s more than 1.0 billion smokers adding that the tobacco industry had seen new market opportunities in narrowing that gender gap.?????
He said that was being done through associating smoking with female beauty, luxury, empowerment and wealth and also targeting younger generations of women.
The chairperson for the occasion, who is also the Executive Director of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs Jane Quaye, said the government should put in place all the necessary legislation to protect the public especially women and children from the harmful effects of tobacco.
There were statements from the GHS, the Coalition of NGOs in Tobacco Control, the Narcotics Control Board and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health.