Nagaland State health dept begins anti-tobacco campaign in schools

An initiative has been taken in Nagaland to spread an anti-tobacco campaign from schools to homes.

The campaign Tobacco Free Schools to Tobacco Free Homes was launched by the State Health and Family Welfare Department on Friday.

As part of the initiative, school students are expected to spread awareness among their parents and siblings about the danger of smoking, chewing of tobacco and spitting. Their family members should also be informed about the basic provisions of Tobacco Control Law, and ban of smoking in public places.

To be eligible for a Tobacco free home badge, a checklist is given to students which needs to be followed at their homes.

In Nagaland, 43.3 per cent of adults either smoke tobacco or use smokeless tobacco according to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2), against a national average of 29 per cent, State Nodal Officer, National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), Dr Arenla Walling said in a concept note.

To begin with, Commissioner and Secretary of Health and Family Welfare (HFW), Y. Kiheto Sema, handed over Tobacco Free Home Certificate to 25 student ambassadors of Little Flower Higher Secondary School (LFHSS), Kohima, under the initiative of the State's National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP).

The objective of the Tobacco Free Home Campaign is to encourage students, especially girls, to make their parents parents and siblings aware that health is wealth and giving up tobacco consumption is an effective way of staying fit.

If every student of tobacco free schools takes part in this campaign, there is a huge potential to transform thousands of homes. When awareness is created in every home it will bring about a considerable impact on the overall behaviour of citizens and ultimately it will reduce the number of patients, deaths and economic burden in society, Sema hoped.

Pointing out that 356 schools out of the 2,684 government and private schools in Nagaland have been declared tobacco free institutions, Sema said 43 per cent children in the 13-15 age group of the northeastern state are tobacco users.

To create better awareness among the students on the ill-effects of tobacco consumption, the health department plans to declare all educational institutions, both government and private, as Tobacco Free Zone (TFZ) from May 1.