New Delhi, 30th July, 2010: In view of increasing tobacco use and its serious health hazards, a recent study conducted by VHAI recommends that information on the hazards of tobacco use and cessation should be formally made a part of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) and the medical curriculum. The study emphasizes that there is an urgent need to integrate tobacco control into public health and the Medical Council of India should be responsible for developing a tobacco cessation training manual for medical students and health care providers.

The Study titled 'Tobacco Control and the Training of Health Care Providers' further recommends that tobacco cessation techniques should be formally included in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical curriculum. Clinics for tobacco cessation should be started in each medical school and appropriate training given to faculty.

Significantly, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death globally, causing 5 million deaths a year, out of which close to 1 million deaths are in India. Studies and evidences exist to prove that tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, various types of cancers, respiratory diseases, reproductive problems, green tobacco sickness etc. Developing countries like India face the double burden of losing precious human resource as well as national resources incurring huge costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses weigh down national resources.

The India Global Health Professional Students Survey (GHPSS) 2006 conducted among the third year medical school students indicated high level of ignorance about tobacco use and among medical students. As per the GHPSS data 11.6% of the students currently smoke, 5.4% currently use tobacco products other than cigarettes and 91% believed that health professionals should get training on cessation. Recent surveys have shown that a substantial proportion of medical students in India smoke or use tobacco products. In the current climate of disease prevention and health promotion, smoking behavior of future physicians and health providers have become increasingly significant. Although, there may be many health care professionals today who believe that it is important to address the issue of tobacco use with patients and give cessation advice but they do not have adequate training or support to do so effectively.

Prof. Lalit M. Nath and Dr. Jennifer Lobo, authors of the Study strongly feel that training of all categories of health care providers, including those from the AYUSH categories is essential. And they recommend that it would be appropriate to also introduce tobacco-related information as a part of all general education programmes starting from primary schools, with reinforcement at the middle level, and all the way to class XII. Ideally all college students should also be exposed to information on the health consequences of tobacco use as a part of a general health course along the lines of the Delhi University subsidiary courses.

Speaking on the occasion of the formal release of the Study, Dr. L.M. Nath said that "The Study comes at an opportune moment when the Medical Council Of India (MCI) is seriously thinking of revamping the medical curriculum. The MCI should seriously consider bringing Tobacco under the category of NCD." Mr. Alok Mukhopadhyay, CEO, VHAI stated that " The Study and the recommendations therein will be a constructive tool for policy makers against the backdrop of the National Tobacco Control Programme and towards mainstreaming of tobacco control in the training of health care professionals and care providers."

About Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI)
Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) is a non-profit, registered society formed in the year 1970. It is a federation of 27 State Voluntary Health Associations, linking together 4500 public health and development institutions and more than 100,000 grassroots-level community health workers across the country. VHAI advocates for people-centered health policies through policy research and strives to build a strong health movement to ensure social justice, equity and human rights in the provision and distribution of public health goods to all, with emphasis on underprivileged.