Nairobi,KENYA:900,000 users exposed to second hand Tobacco smoke worldwide are dying annually, Cardiovascular experts have warned.
Speaking during the launch of National Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease management 2018 during the World Tobacco day, Director of Health services Dr. Jackson Kioko who read the speech on behalf of the Health cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki said that Tobacco use has been singled out as one of the preventable yet leading causes of cancer and cardiovascular diseases worldwide.
“The Tobacco epidemic is one that no one can afford to ignore as tobacco threatens all of us through its health, social, economic and environmental consequences” read part of Cs speech.
According to the 2015 Stepwise Survey on risk factors for Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) 13 percent of adults use tobacco products and one in every 5 Kenyans are exposed to second hand tobacco smoke at home.
On the other hand Global Adult Tobacco Survey of 2015 showed that 72% of Tobacco users use tobacco within 30 minutes of waking up, indicating a high level of addiction with only 3 out of 10 of smokers being advised to quit by their healthcare providers
The Cs argued that up to 50 percent of all hospital admissions and over 55 percent of all hospitals deaths in Kenya are attributable to NCDs.
Following the risk pertaining to the use, Kariuki said that the government has already taken action to combat tobacco use by introducing controls on new and emerging tobacco products.
“In addition, the ministry launched the community health volunteers training module on NCDs which is in the process of dissemination to ensure access to prevention and screening services even at household level.” She said.
Speaking in the same event, Acting chair of tobacco control unit Rennie Omondi who was represented by Isabella Karanja from the unit, 5480 people dies per day due to the use of the products worldwide.
He further added that, the country has for the past four years fighting tobacco laws without bearing fruit .
The ministry worked in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), Kenya Cardiac Society, AstraZeneca, healthy Heart Africa, Amref Health Africa in Kenya, Christian Health Association of Kenya and the Kenya society for Thrombosis and Homeostasis on this endeavor.
