Tobacco cessation services in India: Recent developments and the need for expansion

Abstract

Tobacco use is a major cause of preventable death and disease in India. Unfortunately, very few people in India quit tobacco use. Lack of awareness of harm, ingrained cultural attitudes, and lack of support for cessation maintains tobacco use in the community. The significant addictive property of nicotine makes quitting difficult and relapse common. Health professionals have received little training, and very few thus carry out proper assessments and interventions among tobacco users. Evidence from the developed countries suggests that brief interventions delivered by diverse health professionals are effective in tobacco cessation. Combining pharmacologic approaches with behavioral counseling produces better results than a single strategy. In India, early experiences with tobacco cessation occurred in the context of primary community education for cancer control. More recently, tobacco cessation clinics have been set up to develop models of intervention, and train health professionals in service delivery. These need to be expanded at the primary, secondary, and tertiary care levels, and cost-effective community tobacco cessation models need to be developed. Tobacco cessation forms one of the critical activities under the National Tobacco Control Program. Tobacco cessation needs to be urgently expanded by training health professionals in providing routine clinical interventions, increasing availability and subsidy on pharmacotherapy, developing wide-reaching strategies, such as quitlines and cost-effective strategies, such as group interventions.

Effectiveness of Individual and Group Counseling for Cessation of Tobacco Habit Amongst Industrial Workers in Pimpri, Pune - An Interventional Study

“…The prevalence of tobacco consumption was similar to that expressed by Gupta et al (2013). The quit rates were probably affected because of the deeply ingrained cultural habits particularly amongst those from rural areas (Murthy and Saddichha, 2010;Kakde et al, 2012). This has been reflected in studies conducted in India, Nepal, Pakistan and United Kingdom south Asian population where cultural and social factors have led to the decline in promotion of effective smoking cessation practices (Kakde et al, 2012).…”

“…poverty, illiteracy and lack of tobacco cessation advice and support (Murthy and Saddichha, 2010;Bhan et al, 2012;Rosenthal et al, 2013). In spite of the above mentioned barriers, literature states that counseling in any form helps a tobacco addict to quit the habit of tobacco consumption (Duaso and Duncan, 2012;Whittaker et al, 2012;Tsiapa et al, 2013;Vidrine et al, 2013 ).…”

Insights into Smoking and its Cessation among Current Smokers in India

“…Short term as well as long term benefits of tobacco cessation is well documented in the literature (US DHHS, 1990;Samet, 1992;Kenfield et al, 2008;Murthy and Saddicchha, 2010;Wu and Sin, 2011). Most of the tobacco related deaths can be prevented if effective cessation measures are implemented (World Bank, 2000;Murthy and Saddicchha, 2010).…”

“…India witness's highest tobacco related mortality in the world (Shah et al, 2008;Murthy and Saddicchha, 2010). As a result of growing trends in consumption of tobacco, tobacco related morbidity and mortality in India are on the rise (Murray and Lopez, 1997).…”

“…As a result of growing trends in consumption of tobacco, tobacco related morbidity and mortality in India are on the rise (Murray and Lopez, 1997). To further aggravate the situation, there is definite paucity of resources to deal with this rising incidences of tobacco related illnesses in India (Gajalakshmi et al, 2003;Murthy and Saddicchha, 2010).…”