Madhya Pradesh: Girls take up smoking cigarettes aged 7, says survey report

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) : A shocking report has come to light about smoking and consumption of tobacco products among the youth in Madhya Pradesh (MP). According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey reports, in MP girls start smoking cigarettes at an average age of seven years while boys get into it at an average age of 11.5 years.

Mission Director (MD) National Health Mission, Priyanka Das gave the above information during 'Umang School Health and Wellness' program organized at Hotel Taj, Bhopal on Saturday. State Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary released the survey report of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in the programme.

The survey report further states that the national average age of girls initiating cigarette smoking is 9.3 years whereas the national average age of boys is 10.4 years. The average age of youth (boys and girls) initiating cigarettes in Madhya Pradesh is 8.5 years while the national average is 11.5 years.

Around 2.10 per cent of girls smoke cigarettes and 2.40 per cent of boys consume cigarettes in the state. Similarly, nearly 2.30 per cent of boys and 1 per cent of girls smoke Bidi. Around 4.40 per cent boys and 3.50 per cent girls consume tobacco in any form in the state. The age of these boys and girls is between 13 and 15 years old. Nevertheless, Madhya Pradesh is in 29th position in the highest consumption of Tobacco among youth when compared with 35 other states.