Illiteracy, Ignorance, and Willingness to Quit Smoking among Villagers in India

Abstract

During the field work to control oral cancer, difficulty in communication was encountered with illiterates. A study to define the role of illiteracy, ignorance and willingness to quit smoking among the villagers was undertaken in a rural area surrounding Doddipatla Village, A.P., India. Out of a total population of 3,550, 272 (7.7%) persons, mostly in the age range of 21–50 years, attended a cancer detection camp. There were 173 (63.6%) females and 99 (36.4%) males, among whom 66 (M53 + F13) were smokers; 36.4% of males and 63% of females were illiterate. Among the illiterates, it was observed that smoking rate was high (56%) and 47.7% were ignorant of health effects of smoking. The attitude of illiterate smokers was encouraging, as 83.6% were willing to quit smoking. Further research is necessary to design health education material for 413.5 million illiterates living in India (1991 Indian Census). A community health worker, trained in the use of mass media coupled with a person‐to‐person approach, may help the smoker to quit smoking.

Reach of mass media among tobacco users in India: A preliminary report

“…[10] In the present study, a high percentage of tobacco users were found to be illiterate. This finding was similar to the study conducted by Gavarasana et al, [11] who found that among the illiterates, the smoking rate was high (56%) and 47.7% were ignorant of health hazards of smoking. The report further proceeds to recommend that research is necessary to design health education material for 413.5 million illiterates living in India (based on the 1991 Indian Census).…”

“…A community health worker, trained in the use of mass media coupled with a person-to-person approach, may help the smoker to quit smoking. [11] The reach of print media (newspaper and magazines) is limited as 27% males, and 54.4% females were not exposed to print media. It could be observed from [ Table 1] that with more exposure to print media, there is a decrease in tobacco use; 69.1% of males and 16.5% of females who were not exposed to print media used tobacco in some form, whereas this drops to 44.5% males and 6.5% females in the group who were regularly exposed to print media.…”

Prevalence and patterns of smoking in Delhi: cross sectional study

“…Muslim women were more likely to smoke than Hindu or Christian women; people in manual occupations were more likely to smoke than those in professional or supervisory occupations; non-vegetarians were more likely to smoke than vegetarians; and people who drank alcohol were more likely to smoke than those who did not. Education and socioeconomic factors have been reported to be associated with smoking in diverse groups worldwide,9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 but risk factors like religion and non-vegetarianism may be unique to India. Other risk factors for smoking have been reported—notably, whether parents and family smoke,13 19 knowledge and attitudes related to smoking,20 21 locus of control,22 self esteem,23 and acculturation,15 16 17 18 but data on these were not obtained in the present study.…”

The hidden traits of endemic illiteracy in cities

“…This scenario is quite worrying because illiteracy has been associated with health problems 3,4 such as diabetes 5 , hypertension 6 , depression 7 , and schizophrenia 8 . It is also related to unhealthy habits such as smoking 9 , violent behavior 10,11 , and reduced life expectancy 12 . While the precise economic costs worldwide are difficult to quantify, estimated annual losses due to illiteracy are in the billions of dollars in the US alone 13,14 , resulting mainly from health-related care costs, low productivity, and strains on the welfare system.…”