A qualitative evaluation study aimed at better understanding the implementation of tobacco control policies has revealed that there is a significant association between the implementation of policies and prevalence of tobacco use in India.
Conducted by researchers from the Institute of Public Health (IPH), the study — Anushthana — was taken up to understand how to enhance and scale implementation of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) in India.
“It has been more than a decade since the COTPA was enacted. It has worked in some places/contexts/settings better than in others. This study is an attempt to systematically understand how and why the implementation of this law has occurred across Indian States, said Pragati Hebbar, from the IPH, who is the principal investigator of the study.
No Smoking signs
“Our findings revealed that people who encountered “No Smoking” signs exhibited a decreased likelihood of consuming tobacco. When individuals were exposed to second-hand smoke, their chances of tobacco use increased,” said Dr. Pragati.
“Besides, tobacco product advertisements were linked to increased likelihood of tobacco use, including smokeless and smoked tobacco consumption. Awareness of the dangers of using smoked and smokeless tobacco products was related to a lower likelihood of using tobacco products,” she said.
The study was presented at a national consultation on tobacco control policies held in the city on Thursday, July 6. Experts, who participated in the consultation, highlighted the need for collective efforts focusing on sustainability of tobacco control initiatives in the country.
U.S. Vishal Rao, member of the State’s high-powered committee on tobacco control, said although Karnataka has been doing well in COTPA implementation, there is a lag as public places continue to allow smoking. “There is a need to relook at the COTPA amendments and put in place a system of tobacco licencing for vendors,” he said.
Consultation
The national consultation is an effort to exchange best practices as well as bottlenecks providing an apt forum for Karnataka and others to feature the important tobacco control activities underway. The learnings will motivate officials and strengthen implementation efforts, he said.
Organised by the IPH, Bengaluru, in collaboration with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), the two-day consultation brought together about 50 key stakeholders across the country and several organisations active in tobacco control in Karnataka. Inaugurating the consultation, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the State government will review the existing policies and work on making them more effective.
