Chew on: Officials from Jipmer and Tata Institute of Social Sciences with the Director of Medical Services, releasing the results of GATS 2016-17 on Tuesday. more-in The prevalence of tobacco use among adults in the Union Territory of Puducherry has come down to 11.2% in 2016-17 from 15.1% in 2009-10, according to the Global Audit Tobacco Survey (GATS). The report found that the prevalence of smoking had declined by 3.1% while use of chewing tobacco had declined by 1.4%. Dr. K.V. Raman, Director of Medical Services, Puducherry, Dr. T. Sundararaman, Dean, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Dr. S. Vivekanandam, Director of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) released the survey results here on Tuesday. This is the second survey released by GATS on Puducherry, the first being for 2009-10. According to Mr. Sundararaman, the second round of GATS was conducted between August 2016 and February 2017 by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. A multi-stage sample design was used for both rounds of GATS. He said that from each of the sample households, one member, 15 years and above, was randomly selected for individual interview. The survey covered about 945 men and 1529 women from October to November 2016. At 5.2%, cigarette was the most commonly used tobacco product among all adults in the Union Territory, followed by betel quid at 3.4%, bidi at 2.2%, khaini at 1.2% and gutkha at 0.7%. The survey revealed that none in the age group of 15-17 reported using tobacco. The mean age at initiation of tobacco use has increased from 18 years in GATS I to 19.3 years in GATS 2. Cigarettes and betel About 14.7% of men, 0.1% of women and 7.2% of all adults currently smoke tobacco while 4.5% of men, 4.9% of women and 11.2% of all adults either smoke tobacco or chew smokeless tobacco. Mr. Sundararaman pointed out that Cigarette and betel quid with tobacco were the two most commonly used tobacco products. About 5.2% of adults smoked cigarettes and 3.4% chewed betel quids with tobacco. About 52.1% of smokers were advised by a healthcare provider to quit. Meanwhile, 47.9% of smokeless tobacco users were advised to quit. One in every four adults who worked indoors was exposed to second-hand smoke while 16.1% of all adults were exposed to second-hand smoke at any public space, the survey says. Warnings heeded Large pictorial warnings on cigarette packs and information broadcast through media motivated nearly 51% of people to quit. The GATS 2 survey also revealed that the number of current tobacco users (69.2%) who wanted to quit and those chewing tobacco (57.8%) was slightly higher than those who attempted in 2009-10. Mr. Raman pointed out that the number of current tobacco users at 19.7% was significantly higher in the rural areas when compared with the urban areas. The Government has initiated several tobacco-related intervention programmes to spread awareness against using tobacco. The Health Department will take up this issue and rope in Anganwadi workers to create awareness in the rural areas, he said.

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