BHUBANESWAR: The percentage of
smokeless tobacco users in Odisha at 42.9% is double the
national average of 21.4%, a latest survey reveals.
Health secretary
Pramod Meherda released the
Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS2)
Odisha Fact Sheet 2016-17. The GATS2 national data was released in June last year. The survey is jointly done by Union Ministry of Health and World Health Organization.
The GATS2 shows the percentage tobacco chewers remain almost same as what it was done in 2009-2010 when the GATS1 was conducted though nationally it has gone down significantly from 25.9% in 2009-10 to 21.4% in 2016-17.
Around 8.6% people use betel quid with tobacco, 16.9% use khaini, 9.4% use gutka and 8.6% use paan masala with tobacco.
The percentage of smokers in Odisha has gone down from 10.3% to 7% in the past seven years. Nationally, the number fell from 14% to 10.7%. Meherda said tobacco cessation clinics are being run in all the districts and awareness activities are being done to reduce tobacco use.
Doctors said tobacco chewing is the biggest cause of oral cancer in the state. "Every second or third oral cancer patient has history of tobacco chewing," said Dr Sanjay Panda, a cancer surgeon in Cuttack.
Panda said due to awareness activities, smoking is coming down across the country. But campaign against tobacco chewing is not that aggressive though Odisha has very high percentage of tobacco chewers, he said.
