Reducing Tobacco Use Among Adults
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Introduction
The use of tobacco and the products made from it is a huge public health concern internationally. The most unfortunate part associated with its use is the illnesses, and the overwhelming mortality brought by the illness can be prevented. Statistics have it that about 480000 citizens of the United States die from directly consuming such products or being subjected to individuals who make use of such products, for example, passive smokers. Additionally, an American citizen who can total to more than 16 million goes through at least an illness brought by using tobacco-related products. Reports from the government suggest that tobacco smoking-associated illnesses in the US, amounting to a total of over 300 billion dollars each year. This involves nearly 170 billion dollars taken for direct healthcare for the adult population as 156 billion dollars in excess is taken to lost productivity.
In America, 15 out of 100 individuals who are in the age bracket of 18 years and above engage in tobacco use either through smoking or using its products. According to the present population in America, 34.4 million adults use tobacco actively (Gaalema et al., 2018). According to statistics, 16 million citizens of the United States live with illnesses related to smoking.
The present stages of the use of tobacco have, however, reduced by about 7 percent from 2005 to date. Within the population defined, the male population has a higher possibility of becoming users of tobacco than female counterparts. Nearly 16% of the population in America, adult men to be specific, use tobacco compared to 12% of counterpart adult women. The degree of tobacco use among adults within the ages of 18-24, 25-44, 45-64 years is higher. Tobacco use is less today among individuals aged 65 and above. This has been previously reported.
Internationally, reports from the World Health Organization suggest that tobacco use is among the most problematic concerns in the public health sector that the world is experiencing today. Reports from WHO suggest that nearly 8 million individuals die yearly at the international level, where more than 6 million such deaths come from the direct use of tobacco, whereas 890000 originate from secondary smoking (Gaalema et al., 2018). More than 80% of individuals who are presently using tobacco, the 1.1 billion, reside in economies that are low and middle-class. This is where cigarette smoking burden and tobacco-associated diseases are higher.
The figure below demonstrates the manner in which the dominant use of tobacco and its related products is in different areas.
The table is a representation of a rise of 684 million dollars in the year 2015. Several existing electronic items are being brought in the market. These products include E-cigarettes, e-pipes, and e-cigars, which have been brought to the market recently. Information that has been updated for purposes of advertising and promotion of such electronic tobacco products is not available, however. Despite the fact that the rate of tobacco production in America has significantly reduced from the late 90s, it goes on to be the top producer of tobacco leaves.
The strategic technique to reduce tobacco use prevalence.
Reducing tobacco use prevalence takes multiple different approaches to put together and not just one strategy. The approaches are put in accordance with three points of action. The initial point of action is to raise costs related to tobacco and any other programs that surrounds it. Activities such as this involve promotion and marketing, manufacturing and shipping (Jamal et al., 2018). The next point of action is to establish hard and large-impact campaigns in the mass media, that will ensure the reduction of effectiveness of activities related to promotion and marketing. The final point of action is to establish and execute stringent regulations to have a free smoking community.
Communications in the mass media which have the aim of achieving mass reach against the utilization of tobacco products are targeted at minimizing the dominance and making more individuals refrain from tobacco use (Jamal et al., 2018). The main goal being targeted here is to decrease the number of individuals who utilize such items by passing messages which have high impacts and those counter ads of promotion by companies dealing with tobacco products. The second foundation of this plan is raising tobacco prices and the associated items, so that use and access are limited.
The moment product price has been raised within the community context, there will be a high likelihood that its demand will decrease, and hence, the number of victims will significantly reduce. Organizations and firms dealing with tobacco products will bear abnormal costs in their processes of manufacturing and distribution. This implies that they will equally change these adjustments to the consumer (Odani et al., 2018). The consumer will be forced to contemplate or cease their usage.
The final strategic plan is executing comprehensive policies that are smoke-free in the community. An instance of such a policy is making sure that individuals are not permitted to smoke in public places, e.g., parks, restaurants, bus stations, and hospitals. Policies such as these will be of great importance when it comes to the reduction of secondary smoking, which bears huge effects on billions of individuals around the globe. Policies like this will equally help transform the social and cultural smoking perception and make individuals knowledgeable on the risks associated with smoking.
References
Gaalema, D. E., Pericot-Valverde, I., Bunn, J. Y., Villanti, A. C., Cepeda-Benito, A., Doogan, N. J., … & Parker, M. A. (2018). Tobacco use in cardiac patients: perceptions, use, and changes after a recent myocardial infarction among US adults in the PATH study (2013–2015). Preventive medicine, 117, 76-82.
Jamal, A., Phillips, E., Gentzke, A. S., Homa, D. M., Babb, S. D., King, B. A., & Neff, L. J. (2018). Current cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(2), 53.
Odani, S., Armour, B. S., Graffunder, C. M., Willis, G., Hartman, A. M., & Agaku, I. T. (2018). State-specific prevalence of tobacco product use among adults—United States, 2014–2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(3), 97.