Tobacco Control in India: Evidence Based Public Health Strategies and Interventions

Introduction: Tobacco is the foremost preventable cause of disease and death in the world today, killing half of the people who use it. Tobacco use kills nearly six million people worldwide each year. This epidemic can be resolved by becoming aware of the devastating effects of tobacco, learning about the proven effective tobacco control measures, national programs and legislation prevailing in the home country and then engaging completely to halt the epidemic to move toward a tobacco-free world. This study will review evidence based strategies to control tobacco menance. Methods: Data was collected from published research nationally and globally , WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2011, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2007): Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, Cochrane database systematic reviews. Results: It was observed that increasing tobacco prices through higher taxes is the most effective intervention to reduce tobacco use and encourage smokers to quit. A comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship could decrease tobacco consumption by 7%, independent of other interventions, with some countries experiencing a decline up to 16% (WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic,2011).Due to strict tobacco access policies targeting retailers and heavy fines for violation in Texas ,USA,the sale of illegal sales to minors reduced from 56%in 1996 to 7.2% in 2006. ). In general, warning labels are overwhelmingly supported by the public, often with levels of support at 85–90% or higher, and even most smokers support labelling requirements.Conclusion: Most tobacco control intervention studies are from developed countries, there is a need to develop evidence-based, cost-effective interventions in developing countries for both smoking and smokeless tobacco use. Measures that proved very effective in the developed world, like tax increases on all tobacco products, need to be enforced immediately and the taxes collected should be used to support health promotion and tobacco control programs.