As World No Tobacco Day approaches, global partners are bringing attention to the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, while seeking to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.

The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 7 million people a year. More than 6 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 890, 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness recently launched its campaign for World No Tobacco Day 2019, in partnership with the National Commission on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases to bring attention to the issues of tobacco use in Saint Lucia.

According to the Tobacco Control Focal Point, Joanna Joseph, the trend is worrying.

“Ours is a very serious issue. We are noticing is that smoking is increasing and that tobacco users are starting to smoke at even younger ages. Our last global youth tobacco survey which is an international survey for tobacco surveillance, indicates that up to one quarter of young people ages 13-15 are already smoking, and out of that almost 10 percent of them are smoking daily, so statistics indicate that we have a major problem.”

This year’s campaign is significant for the National Commission on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases as it seeks to target the youth. The World Health Organization recommends that governments and communities prioritize tobacco control in order to achieve sustainable development goals target for one third reduction in non-communicable disease premature mortality by 2030. The Chair of the National Commission on Chronic NCDs, Dr. Owen Gabriel, said the most effective measure to improve lung health is to reduce tobacco use and second hand smoke exposure, however the potential of tobacco control for improving lung health is highly underestimated.

“By adopting tobacco and lung health as the theme for World No Tobacco Day 2019, WHO encourages parties to organize campaigns to increase the awareness of the negative impact that tobacco has on people’s lung health—from cancer to chronic respiratory diseases—and on the fundamental role that lungs play for the health and wellbeing of all people,” Dr. Gabriel said.

The Senior Medical Officer for Chronic Non-Communicable Disease, Dr. Shanna Cyr Philbert, said NCDs are a significant problem in Saint Lucia where 8 out of 10 adults die from chronic NCDs like diabetes, cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease. Tobacco smoking is one of the main risk factors for such diseases.

“In Saint Lucia, one of the trends that we have noticed is that persons are dying from chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where an individual has lungs that don’t work well. He or she is unable to breathe in a room full of air, and it’s really sad,” said Dr. Philbert. “I’ve had the personal experience of seeing persons less than 40 years old which is pretty young actually dying from such diseases. We know that tobacco smoking causes cancer, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and raises blood pressure. There really is nothing beneficial about tobacco smoking and I want to appeal to the Saint Lucian public that if you smoke you need to stop. Quitting lowers your risk of developing such diseases and protects you and your family members.”

World No Tobacco Day will be observed on May 31, 2019 under the theme “Tobacco and Lung Health.”