NEW DELHI: Tobacco use among women and adolescents has declined, said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav, in the Parliament on Tuesday.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Jadhav stated the decline in tobacco use, citing two global surveys.
“As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) -I (2009-10) and GATS-2 (2016-17) conducted among the age group of 15 years and above, there is a decline in tobacco use among women from 20.3 per cent to 14.2 per cent, ” the Minister said.
“The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) conducted for school-going children of age group 13-15 years reported a decline in tobacco use from 14.6 per cent (GYTS-3, 2009) to 8.5 per cent (GYTS-4, 2019), ” he added.
Jadhav also shared the measures undertaken by the Health Ministry to reduce tobacco consumption among women and children in the country.
The Ministry enacted a comprehensive legislation, namely the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003), to regulate the tobacco products and to discourage the consumption of tobacco.