Self-discipline is the best way to quit cigarette smoking. I have been smoking for quite a long time until I completely stopped last 2003 due to health problem,” said City Mayor Japal “Jojo” Guiani Jr. in a press conference after the recent launching of “Smoking-Free City.”
The project is jointly sponsored by the city government and the City Health Services.
He said it is really difficult to quit the habit of cigarette smoking especially if you are in it for so long, but if one considers the ill-effects of cigarette smoking and try hard to stop the habit, it is not hopeless to do so.
What is so important about the campaign against cigarette smoking, he added, is that the smokers themselves do not only destroy their health but those people around them maybe affected when they inhale the smoke of cigarettes.
The city government and the Department of Health (DoH) had been conducting series of information and education campaign pertaining to the ill-effects of cigarette smoking not only in some barangays (villages) but in several forum held in the past.
In his remarks during the opening of the activity, Guaini said the local government unit (LGU) of the City of Cotabato is extending full support to the said campaign.
City health services chief Dr. MarloNiñal said the campaign against smoking will be tried initially on food and hotel establishments.
The city health office will also regulate the selling of cigarettes in places, like in front of schools, malls, and other public areas.
“If one cannot stop cigarette smoking then that’s his choice but I am appealing to cigarette smokers to smoke in areas that no other person will be affected,” Guiani said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world.
It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about five million deaths each year).
WHO officers said that if current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020.
Half the people that smoke today – that is about 650 million people – will eventually be killed by tobacco.
Each day in the WHO Western Pacific Region, 3,000 people die from tobacco use.
The WHO added that tobacco is the fourth most common risk factor for disease worldwide.
It said the economic costs of tobacco use are equally devastating.
In addition to the high public health costs of treating tobacco-caused diseases, tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity – depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce.
The WHO also said that tobacco users are also less productive while they are alive due to increased sickness.
A 1994 report estimated that the use of tobacco resulted in an annual global net loss of $200 billion – a third of this loss being in developing countries.
The WHO cited that experience has shown that there are many cost-effective tobacco control measures that can be used in various settings and that can have a significant impact on tobacco consumption.
The most cost-effective strategies are population-wide public policies, like bans on direct and indirect tobacco advertising, tobacco tax and price increases, smoke-free environments in all public and workplaces, and large clear graphic health messages on tobacco packaging.
All these measures are discussed in the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
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