Awareness and utilisation of quitline among current tobacco users in a district in southern india

Abstract

Background: Tobacco use not only increases mortality, but also causes enormous burden to the Nation’s health and economy. The WHO -Framework Convention on Tobacco Control implemented “MPOWER”, comprising of an important entity of ‘offering help to tobacco users’ to quit. Quitline provides evidence-based treatment services to tobacco users and advertising those services has the potential to increase their utilisation. Objectives: Our objective was to assess the awareness and utilisation of the newly introduced quitline on tobacco packs among tobacco users. Materials and Methods: After obtaining Ethics Committee approval, this cross-sectional study was conducted from March-June 2019 in a purposive sample of tobacco users aged 18 years and above at the point of sale with prior informed consent. The questionnaire included questions on the users’ knowledge and utilisation of the quitline. Results: Most of the tobacco users (84.6 %) had not observed the quitline on tobacco pack. Amongst those who observed the quitline, 65.5% were smokers, while the smokeless tobacco users who comprised half of the study population were unaware of the quitline. More than 97% of illiterates were unaware of the quitline. Only three tobacco users who were aware of quitline had tried using it. Conclusion: Most of the tobacco users had basic education but were not aware of the quitline on the tobacco packs and only a very few of them used the services, highlighting the need to increase its awareness for effective tobacco control.

MPOWER Measures and Its Effect on Tobacco Control: A Cross-sectional Comparison of Global Adult Tobacco Surveys, India

“…Even with the developing infrastructure and facilities toward tobacco cessation, the study results indicated that smokers or SLT users did not translate into successful quitters as the quit rates continue to remain low (<5% in males and <2% in females) in GATSs. A study highlighted that there is a lack of awareness and utilization of the national quit-line services in India among tobacco users, and illiteracy and poor education make it unusable 29…”

“…A study highlighted that there is a lack of awareness and utilization of the national quit-line services in India among tobacco users, and illiteracy and poor education make it unusable. 29 Therefore, India being a highly prevalent and major tobacco-producing country needs newer strategies to bridge the education gap along with incorporating digital health mediums for larger cessation impacts. Furthermore, evidence-based intervention programs, such as the Tobacco Free Teachers-Tobacco Free Schools (TFT-TFS) program, 30 can be utilized and incorporated into current national Tobacco-Free Educational Institution (ToFEI) guidelines for the prevention of tobacco use among school personnel, adolescents, and their parents.…”