Tag: #NoTobacco Day

COPD – son of a TB

By Andre F.S. Amaral, Research Associate, National Heart and Lung Institute

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by chronic airflow obstruction and is the third most common cause of death worldwide, especially in low and middle income countries (LMICs). The main risk factor for this disease is tobacco smoking. However, smoking is still uncommon in many LMICs and more than 20% of people with COPD do not have a history of smoking.

What could then be causing COPD among people who do not smoke?
Some have advocated that the high number of deaths by COPD among non-smokers, especially in LMICs, could easily be explained by a high exposure to smoke from burning biomass for cooking, heating and lighting. However, large studies have ailed to find an association of airflow obstruction with use of biomass.

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Others have suggested that infectious diseases, which are still common in LMICs, could have a role in COPD. Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of mortality due to respiratory infection worldwide, but with its death rate decreasing since 1990 several millions of people are saved every year. Broadly speaking there is considerable overlap between regions with high incidence of TB and high mortality from COPD, therefore it makes sense to improve our understanding of the relationship between these two diseases.

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World No Tobacco Day 2016: Get ready for plain packaging

By Tahrima Choudhury, Centre for Health Policy Intern

On the 31st of May every year the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), drawing attention to the dangers and health risks associated with tobacco consumption, and advocating for better policies to reduce tobacco use. This year’s WNTD will focus on the standardised (also known as plain) packaging of tobacco products, in the hope that it gains traction worldwide (1).

Australian_cigarette_pack_with_health_warning_December_2012The standardised packaging of tobacco products refers to limiting or banning of brand images, company logos, colours and promotional information on packaging. This only permits the display of brand and product names on a dark olive green coloured box with a standard font in conjunction with a graphic health warning image (2).

The notion behind this campaign is that tobacco packaging is seen as a mobile billboard. It is the final communication vehicle tobacco companies have left with people, silently promoting the consumption of tobacco, and distracting individuals, particularly children, from health warnings. Stripping away the glossy veneer will expose tobacco products for what they really are: a box of toxic, addictive product that is responsible for the death of around six million people a year (2).

Worryingly in the UK, two-thirds of smokers currently start smoking before they reach 18 years of age (3), beginning an addiction which kills up to two in three long-term smokers from a smoking-related cause (4). Tobacco use in the UK is the single greatest cause of avoidable deaths and preventable illness, with 100,000 people dying from a smoking associated cause each year (4). (more…)