smoking kills

Tweet

Despite the continuous campaigns of health departments and anti smoking advocates in the Philippines to end cigarette smoking, the number of smokers just keeps on increasing. In the Cordillera Region, the Department of Health had started its campaign against smoking way back in 2007 and strengthened the campaign through the years by involving the local government units and the private sector. DOH-CAR anti-smoking coordinator Lily Bimmuyag said "apparently in spite of all the efforts the health department has done, cigarette smokers continue to increase". Their records show that smokers at present are becoming younger and younger, and that there are more women who smoke. In a study conducted by the DOH and the National Statistics Office called the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2009, the Philippines has a present record of 28.3 percent tobacco smokers equivalent to 17.3 million Filipinos; and 22.5 percent or approximately 13.8 million persons smoke everyday. The survey also showed that 38.2 percent of Filipino men are daily smokers, consuming an average of 11.3 cigarettes a day while women account for 6.9 percent of current daily smokers equivalent to an average of 7.0 sticks a day. Bimmuyag said that in the Cordilleras, the age bracket of smokers goes down to even as young as 15 years old, prompting them to call the attention of the different educational institutions to help in the implementation of the anti-smoking campaign. "If only smoking will not affect the second-hand and third-hand smokers who breathe with the smokers, then there is no need for us to campaign against smoking. But it affects everybody. Even the unborn child in the womb of a mother who is smoking", Bimmuyag said. "We have the right to breath fresh air", she ended.