• Education

Smoking trend amongst teens emerging

For all the government’s efforts to discourage smoking, it still remains a common sight amongst teenagers. The habit starts at an early age affecting children as young as 13 years old.

“I started smoking when I was 9 years old; I just think it is so cool and seeing most of my family members smoking. I think it is a tradition to smoke in our family and also everyone in my street smokes” says a primary school learner.

According to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Tobacco use in Namibia starts at an early age with 23.9% of students aged 13-15 reported ever smoked a cigarette. 55.5% of students in the same age category being exposed to second hand smoking.

Another school drop said that he started smoking because he was bullied into smoking and it’s something that he doesn’t like.

“I only smoke because my friends bullied me into it, if I don’t they would gang up on me and beat me. And it is the only thing to do because we don’t have any other activities since we don’t go to school” he says.

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health and other risks associated with tobacco use, and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. This year the focus is on the impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people worldwide.

Windhoek-based clinical psychologist, Shaun Whittaker also expressed his concern over the rise of young people being lured into smoking.

“This is becoming a serious concern now, because not much is being done to address this issue. Most of the young people start smoking from an early age because they learn through their role models, which could be parents, or any family member, or someone in the community and they think it is normal to smoke and without thinking of the health risks they put themselves in”

“Another cause is also peer pressure amongst their peers, adverts and movies which makes smoking look cool. I think government should go step further to raise awareness because more and more young people are falling into this trap and they are not considering their health” said Whittaker.

Healthy Lifestyle

He further urged young people to keep up with a healthy lifestyle and get involved in physical activities.

“Young people need to draw into healthy lifestyles, physical activities should be brought back into schools and must be made compulsory, if they have some physical activities it will keep them busy and they won’t be tempted to fall into such activities. They should be lessons in schools to tell teens of what cigarettes are made of, pictures are not good enough and they feel their health is not threatened thus the need for lessons” he said.

This year, the World No Tobacco Day was observed in Eenhana in the Ohangwena region under the global theme Tobacco and heart disease with the slogan Tobacco breaks hearts: Choose Health not tobacco.

Speaking on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, the Honorable Governor of the Ohangwena Region, Hon Usko Nghaamwa stated that Namibia has been implementing the global best buys for tobacco control even before the enactment of the Tobacco Control Act in 2014. These include the banning of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, placing graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging and gradual annual increase of taxes on tobacco products.

The WHO Representative, Charles Sagoe-Moses, said that ‘the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 7 million people each year of which more than 800 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. If no action is taken, tobacco will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030, more than 80% of them among people living in low- and middle-income countries.

Sagoe-Moses further referred to the 2014, non-communicable diseases country profile which indicates that Namibia has a high prevalence of tobacco smoking (20% average for both men and women; 30% for men and 9% for women)”

Goals of the World No Tobacco Day 2018 campaign

Highlight the links between the use of tobacco products and heart and other cardiovascular diseases. Increase awareness within the broader public of the impact tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke have on cardiovascular health. Provide opportunities for the public, governments and others to make commitments to promote heart health by protecting people from use of tobacco products. Encourage countries to strengthen implementation of the proven MPOWER tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC.