DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i08.074

Pages: 3395-3397

India is the second largest producer and consumer of tobacco in the world. More than one million deaths occur in a year in India due to tobacco use. International and national agencies spend a fortune on anti-tobacco campaigns every year. Himachal Pradesh, a small hilly state of north India with a population of about 7 million, was declared the first "smoke-free" state in the country in 2013. COTPA, banning of smokeless tobacco and loose cigarettes and raising taxes every year were all aimed at reducing tobacco use. The study was aimed at observing the impact of the multi-pronged anti- tobacco efforts in the state of Himachal Pradesh. A review of the National Family Health Survey-3 and 4. India, as a whole has shown a decreased use in tobacco use among women (from 10.8% in NFHS-3 to 6.8%) and in men (from 57% in NHFS-3 to 44.5% in NFHS-4). All the north Indian states too have shown a decline in tobacco use among women. However, a reversal in the trend i.e. increase in tobacco use has been noted among the males of Himachal Pradesh (from 40% in NFHS-3 to 40.5% in NHFS-4). Conclusions: India and all north Indian states have shown a decline in tobacco use since NHFS-3 except in the men of Himachal Pradesh who have shown an increase in the use of tobacco as noted during NFHS-4. An upward surge instead of a fall in tobacco use in a small state which has shown exemplary performance in introducing all the contemporary laws and steps towards discouraging the use of tobacco, calls for serious introspection of the existing situation. Still, a lot remains to be done to improve awareness and to strengthen implementation of the existing legislations which should ultimately culminate in change of individual behaviour and hence reduction in tobacco use.