AHMEDABAD: The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) report reveals that while the number of men who consume tobacco has gone down in the state by 10.3%, the number of women who consume tobacco has increased by 1.3%.
The detailed NFHS data suggests that 60.2% of men consumed tobacco in 2005-06, which fell to 51.4% in 2015-16 and further declined to 41.4% in 2019-20. Some 33.6% of men in cities and 46.7% of men in rural areas consumed tobacco according to 2019-20 figures. According to NFHS-IV (2015-16) 46% of men in cities and 56.2% of men in rural areas consumed tobacco.
The proportion of women consumers, however, fell by just one percentage point. In 2005-06, 8.4% of women consumed any type of tobacco which decreased to 7.4% in 2015-16 and 8.7% in 2019-20. The number of women who consumed tobacco according to NFHS-V was 11% in rural areas and 5.4% in urban areas. However, according to NFHS-IV, 9.1% of women in rural Gujarat used tobacco compared to 5.2% in urban areas.
Officials said that men are much more likely to use gutka or paan masala with tobacco than use any other type of tobacco. Among men and women, the use of any form of tobacco is higher in rural areas — gutka or paan masala with tobacco, followed by bidis, are especially popular in rural areas.
Sociologist Gaurang Jani said that like drinking liquor, consuming tobacco for rural women was a part of traditions. The use of tobacco is still a cultural practice and one will find women eating betel nuts and tobacco after a meal. Now the easy availability of gutka has increased tobacco consumption in rural areas, he said.
In some villages one will find even children eating tobacco. There is a sizeable population of such children, said a senior health officer.