PANAJI
The use of tobacco among adults in Goa has increased, albeit marginally, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) released on Friday has revealed.
The survey found that the prevalence of tobacco use has gone up from 8.8% in 2009 when the GATS - I was conducted to 9.7% in 2016-17 when GATS - II was conducted.
Significant from the survey is the finding that while the prevalence of smoking among adults has decreased from 4.8% to 4.2%, the use of smokeless tobacco increased from 4.6% to 6.5% thereby increasing the overall prevalence of tobacco use among adults.
The GATS is a global standard for systematically monitoring adult tobacco use -- be it smoke or smokeless -- and tracking key tobacco control indicators. GATS is a household survey of persons aged 15 and above conducted in all 30 states as well as two union territories.
The first round of GATS was conducted in 2009-10 while the second one in 2016-17 under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW), Government of India, with technical assistance from World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai.
A multi-stage sample design was used and for the each of the sampling, one member per household aged 15 and above was selected at random for an interview.
In Goa, a total of 757 males and 1272 females were interview during 2016-17.
The survey also revealed that the mean age for tobacco use is 17.5 years, same as in 2009-10 while the prevalence of tobacco use among persons below 15-17 is less than one percent. GATS-2 further revealed that the number of current tobacco users who want to quit (51% smokers and 62.6% chewers) is higher than those making attempts to quit in 2009-10. The survey has also found that the number of adults exposed to secondhand smoke, has decreased from 22.8% in 2009-10 to 13.8% in 2016-17 when the second survey was conducted.
Exposure from second-hand smoke at home fell from 24.4% to 13.9% and at the workplace fell from 17.4% to 17.9%. Citing the fact that 49.1% smokers and 44.4% chewers of tobacco have been advised to quit by health providers the survey called for an “urgent need to further support and expand cessation service which will help current tobacco users to quit.”
Speaking on the occasion of the release of the launch of the findings of the survey, Goa’s Health Secretary said the survey is a valuable source of information for strengthening tobacco control policies.
The survey was released by the Voluntary Health Association of Goa.
