‘160,000 deaths caused by tobacco-related diseases in Pakistan every year’

Islamabad: Strategies need to be formulated for proper implementation of tobacco-related laws to reduce the burden of tobacco in the country.

General Secretary, Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH) Sanaullah Ghumman stated this while addressing a meeting organized by PANAH.

General Secretary PANAH said that health is a fundamental right of the people and it is the first responsibility of the government to make it accessible to them. “Tobacco consumption could be reduced if there is a massive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship,” he added.

He said that in his research “The Tobacco Atlas” published on July 22, 2020, member of the Center for Health and Population Sciences Professor New York University Kamran Siddiqui made it clear that one out of every five adults in Pakistan uses tobacco regularly. “This has serious consequences for the country's public healthand its economy.” Sanaullah Ghumman said that PANAH has always spoken of saving human lives, to save the people of Pakistan from smoking, heart, respiratory, lung, cancer, diabetes and other diseases.

More than 160,000 deaths are caused by tobacco-related diseases in Pakistan every year. The young are more prone to smoking. The average smoker uses 13 cigarettes a day, which accounts for 10per cent of their income every month. Around 80 per cent of smokers are in favour of increasing the price of tobacco, raising the legal age for selling tobacco to 21 years, banning smoking in cars with minors and banning tobacco completely within 10 years. The investigation also revealed that Pakistan suffers from an annual economic loss of around Rs2 billion due to diseases caused by smoking.