Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The state holds 29th position in tobacco consumption among youth in the recently released Global Youth Tobacco Survey. The national rate of consumption of tobacco among youth (13-15 years) is 8.5 percent while Madhya Pradesh performed well in preventing the same with 3.9 percent.
Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) is a global standard for systematically monitoring youth tobacco use (smokeless and smoked) and tracking key tobacco control indicators.
In India, four rounds of GYTS were conducted in 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2019. The findings of the 2019 survey were released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently.
In this survey, a total of 80,772 students from 987 schools aged 13 to 15 years were surveyed. The survey was conducted by International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) Mumbai under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
“The findings of the survey state that currently 8.5 percent youth (age 13-15 years) in India consume tobacco in one form or another. It was 14.6 percent in the year 2009 and a decline is observed in overall tobacco consumption among youth in India,” Mukesh Kumar Sinha, Executive Director of Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, said.
The GYTS survey shows that significant efforts in tobacco control have resulted in a drop in tobacco consumption among youth in the nation as well as in the state.
The survey team had also inspected government and private schools of Indore during the survey as well.
“We should not feel satisfied as overall 8.5 percent tobacco use among youth in India shows that still lot of efforts are needed, it is very important that tobacco shops near 100 yards of educational institutes should be removed and attractive advertisements of tobacco products/pan masala products should completely prohibited,” Sinha said along with suggesting other ways of prevention including strict action on hookah bars is much warranted while enforcement of Indian Tobacco Control Act is needed to protect adolescents and youths.
Findings of GYTS
1 Four rounds of GYTS were conducted in year 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2019
2 A total of 80,772 students from 987 schools aged 13 to 15 years were surveyed
3 A total of 9.6 percent boys and 7.4 percent girls (age 13-15) consume tobacco in one form or another in India.
4 Overall Himachal Pradesh has least consumption of tobacco among youth which is 1.1 percent and Arunachal and Mizoram have highest tobacco use among youth with 57.9 percent youth aged 13-15 years consuming tobacco.
5 Only 37.8 percent of youths were taught in class about the harmful effects of tobacco use.
6 It was also found that 19.5 percent youths usually smoke at school which is quite alarming.
7 The median age of initiation of Cigarettes was 11.5 years, Bidi 10.5 years and smokeless tobacco was 9.9 years in India.
