IMDC’s anti-smoking campaign aimed at youth Monday, June 16, 2008 Muhammad Qasim Islamabad Islamabad Medical & Dental College (IMDC) has decided to run an anti-smoking campaign in the educational institutions of the capital to sensitise the youth and students about smoking hazards and help those wanting to quit smoking. “We have launched a one-year anti-smoking campaign in the capital to curb the use of tobacco among youth and students,” said Head of Community Medicine at IMDC Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry while talking to ‘The News’ Sunday. He added that the college had already launched a brochure titled ‘Quit Smoking Before It Kills You’ as part of a corporate social responsibility programme that highlights the health hazards of smoking, benefits of quitting and various smoking cessation techniques that could help smokers to quit smoking. “During the planned campaign, we have decided to organise lectures in schools, colleges and universities of Islamabad and distribute copies of the brochure among students of various educational institutions in accordance with the theme ‘Tobacco-Free Youth’ for this year’s ‘World No Tobacco Day’,” he said. “About 1,600 children take up smoking every day in Pakistan while about 100,000 people in the country die annually by tobacco use. Adult experimentation with this highly addictive product can easily lead to a lifetime of tobacco dependence,” he added. “We want our youth to be aware of the fact that smoking causes not only serious problem as cancers, heart diseases, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and strokes but also daily life problems as breathlessness, sleep problems, harmful effects on bones and joints, wrinkles, bad breath, yellow teeth, gum diseases, depression, snoring, decrease in stamina, increased colds and coughs, impotence and baldness in men, and infertility and low birth-weight babies in women,” said Dr Ashraf adding that on average, a single cigarette reduces seven minutes of a person’s life. “Life expectancy of a smoker is 15 years shorter than a non-smoker,” he added. “Due to the increasing trend of tobacco use among youth in the country, more youngsters are becoming addicted to harder drugs such as ‘hashish’, **** and heroine, badly affecting their performance and depriving the country of the future productive workforce,” said Dr Ashraf adding that this phenomenon would have serious affects on the country’s future economy if urgent measures are not taken to curb the tobacco use among youth. Dr Ashraf said that in Pakistan, there are 40 per cent male smokers and up to nine per cent female smokers making up 30 million smokers while 55 per cent of the households have at least one individual who smokes tobacco. To a query, he said that public should be made aware of tobacco use being one of the leading preventable causes of death in the world, as it kills up to 50 per cent of its regular users. Studies reveal that there are more than one billion smokers globally and tobacco kills 5.9 million people a year - at an average of one death every six seconds - accounting for one in 10 adult deaths worldwide. About 100 million deaths were caused by tobacco in the 20th century and if current trends continue, there will be up to one billion deaths in the 21st century. Unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase up to 10 million a year by 2030, and 80 per cent of them will occur in the developing world.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=118796

Quoting from [kivi]:




http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=118796

Its really a community friendly step taken by mr. Qasim from Pakistan. I hope asian countries/region may do in same way to save our coming generation.

Thanks for nice posting dear Bro.

Serve you Honestly.

Usman (Moderator)

Quoting from [snsint]:

Quoting from [kivi]:





http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=118796

Its really a community friendly step taken by mr. Qasim from Pakistan. I hope asian countries/region may do in same way to save our coming generation.

Thanks for nice posting dear Bro.

Serve you Honestly.

Usman (Moderator)

It would be good more leaders world wide would take such action.