Priya Mohan
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India
Title: Tobacco deaddiction – A missing link
Biography
Biography: Priya Mohan
Abstract
Tobacco, the major aetiological for most non communicable diseases is an established fact. In India it is the prime cause of oral cancer, the most common cancers, Pondicherry has one of the highest incidence of mouth cancer in the world among males -7.6 per 100,000. 34.6% adults use tobacco, unlike western countries apart from cigarette, indigenous smoking forms and use of smokeless tobacco with/without areca nut, psychoactive substance are used and continues to increase 2-3% every year. Also India has the 2nd highest prevalence of dual users, especially younger age group and develops higher degree of dependence. Unchecked availability of tobacco has led to initiation at as early as 5 years of age and addiction by 10-14 years. 46.6% of smokers and 45.2% of smokeless tobacco users planned to quit, however tobacco cessation - supportive system for deaddiction or prevention is lacking and also relapse is common among those who quit. Dentists form the premier group in identifying tobacco habit related oro-dental changes, but feasibility of tobacco prevention, cessation and deaddiction programs in real life dental setting are questionable. Though India played leadership role in tobacco control among developing countries, implementation of the legislation is ineffective and a major challenge too. Tobacco being easily accessible and affordable, the socio-economically disadvantaged groups are easily vulnerable, limited public healthcare services and unaffordable private healthcare corners them to disease burden further undermining their quality of life. This paper presents the current state of tobacco induced burden, ineffective tobacco cessation programs and importance of deaddiction support system as a strategy for tobacco control in India.