ISLAMABAD: More than 100,000 die of smoking every year in Pakistan, as tobacco use has emerged as an epidemic during the last decade, killing more than seven million people across the globe every year. “This figure is predicted to grow to more than 8 million a year by 2030 without intensified action,” said Shifa International Hospital (SIH) Consultant Pulmonologist Dr Sohail Naseem during a campaign to mark World No Tobacco Day. The campaign was organised to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. In this regard, information stalls were also set up at the hospital, where information literature related to tobacco use and its effects was available, including broachers, flyers, pamphlets and booklets. A large number of people from the twin cities joined the campaign and found the campaign material informative and helpful in avoiding tobacco. “Tobacco use is a threat to any person, regardless of gender, age, race, cultural or educational background. It brings suffering, disease and death, impoverishing families and national economies,” Dr Sohail said on the occasion. He said that this year the theme of World No Tobacco Day was ‘Tobacco – a threat to development’. “It will demonstrate the threats that the tobacco industry poses to the sustainable development of all countries, including the health and economic well-being of their citizens. It will propose measures that governments and the public should take to promote health and development by confronting the global tobacco crisis.” Dr Sohail informed that in Pakistan, smoking causes an estimated 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80 percent in women, and it claims lives of 100,000 people every year. “Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals out of which 250 are known to be harmful for humans and 70 of them cause cancers. More than 600,000 non-smokers are dying each year from second-hand smoke worldwide, and one-third of them are children,” he said. Meanwhile, Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar said that tobacco use had devastating health consequences, as it was a major barrier to development. “Tobacco worsens poverty, damages health and causes devastating social, economic and environmental harms to the Pakistani community and the rest of the world as well.” She was addressing the participants of a seminar conducted by the Ministry of NHSRC and WHO to commemorate World No Tobacco Day. She said that World No Tobacco Day, 2017, campaign focuses on development. “There is a link between use of tobacco products, tobacco control and sustainable development. Globally each year, more than 7 million people die from tobacco use. This figure includes the 900,000 that die from exposure to second-hand smoke. Over 80 percent of these deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries.” The minister said that on top of health costs, the country’s economy suffered when sick or dying smokers could not work, and because smoking prevalence was much higher among men with low education and low income. “In many ways, tobacco and poverty are part of a vicious cycle that deals a double blow to poor people. Money spent on tobacco means less money for necessities such as food, healthcare, shelter and education, while diseases from tobacco cause the poor untold suffering and drive them deeper into poverty when bread winners fall sick or die early.” She assured that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination was fully committed to the FCTC agreement to safeguard the health of citizen of Pakistan from deadly diseases caused by tobacco. “It is mandatory to have participation from provincial and local governments, public, media and all stakeholders in national and sub-national efforts of tobacco control to enforce and implement strategies, plans and achieve goals that prioritise action on tobacco control.” Speaking on the occasion, WHO representative Dr Mohammad Assai said that in Pakistan, 23.9 million adults (31.8 percent of men and 5.8 percent of women) currently use tobacco in any form. “Among the youth (13-15 years of age), 13.3 percent of boys and 6.6 percent of girls are current tobacco users. At global level each year, more than 7 million people die from tobacco use.”