World No Tobacco Day 2018 this year is focusing on the impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people worldwide. According to European Health Interview Survey 2014 20 per cent of the Maltese population smokes regularly and 4 per cent smoke occasionally.This marks a decrease of 0.2% and 1.5% (respectively) when compared with 2008 data (European Health Interview Survey, 2008).
On World No Tobacco Day, an international day celebrated every year on the 31st of May which aims to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use, the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate in collaboration with the University of Malta is providing smoking cessation services for both staff and students at the newly launched Health and wellness clinic at the University of Malta.
Smoking has remained the cause of many yearly preventable deaths. The average annual smoking attributable deaths during the period 1999 - 2013 was estimated to be 396 deaths in males and 111 deaths in females. Among adults 40% of the male and 47% of the female smoking attributable deaths were due to cardiovascular disease (Directorate of Health Information and Research, 2014).
The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate have recently opened two smoking cessation clinics, one at Paola health centre and another one at Gozo General Hospital. Together along with the smoking cessation clinics at Mosta and Floriana health centres the Directorate argued that these two new clinics will help to encourage uptake for smoking cessation by improving geographical coverage. These clinics are supplied with health professionals, trained in smoking cessation, providing one-to-one professional support towards quitting smoking. The clinics also provide carbon monoxide testing, with carbon monoxide through smoking being absorbed into the bloodstream when lit cigarettes or cigars are inhaled.
The directorate explained how smoking harms nearly every single organ in the human body. Cigarettes carry around 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke of which at least 250 are known to be harmful, and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
"The focus of this year's World No Tobacco Day is 'Tobacco and heart disease'. Tobacco use is an important risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Constituents of inhaled tobacco smoke damage the blood vessels walls, making them thicken and grow narrower (atherosclerosis). Narrowing of blood vessels reduce blood flow to various parts of the body including the heart, the brain and the legs. Complete blockages can also occur resulting in a heart attack (in the heart) or a stroke (in the brain). Carbon monoxide also increases risk of cardiovascular diseases. Even people who smoke fewer than 5 cigarettes a day can have early signs of cardiovascular disease."
Smokers, who are willing to quit, can self-refer themselves to these smoking cessation services by calling the Quitline on 8007 3333. Professional support has been found to more than double one's chances in successfully quitting smoking. Currently discussions are underway to start to offer group smoking cessation services at Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre.
For more information please contact the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Directorate on 2326 6000, by email on health.pro@gov.mt, or follow is on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – HPD Malta or on https://ift.tt/2J35mdr.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2stQ2v5
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