MPOWER can stub out alarming rise in tobacco use: Report
Oman risks seeing tobacco use soar to a projected 33.3 per cent by the 2025 unless authorities accelerate the rollout of tobacco control policies recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) under its MPOWER initiative.
MPOWER, according to newly published study, represents an action plan that spells out six concrete steps that must be implemented if an anticipated upsurge in tobacco consumption in the Sultanate is to be successfully tamped down.
The MPOWER initiative stands for: Monitoring of the tobacco epidemic, Protecting people from second hand smoke, Offering cessation services to tobacco users, Warning the public about the dangers of tobacco, Enforcing a ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and Raising taxes and prices of all tobacco products.
The paper, titled Tobacco Control in Oman: It’s Time to Get Serious, has been jointly authored by Dr Jawad al Lawati (Ministry of Health), Ruth M Mabry (Oman Office of the World Health Organisation), and Dr Zakiya al Busaidi (SQU College of Medicine).
“Tobacco use in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, which encompasses many Arab countries including Oman, remains one of the greatest challenges facing public health. This region is one of the two regions with the fastest growing consumers of tobacco products and where the prevalence is expected to increase 25 per cent by the year 2025, compared to a decrease in Asia, America, and Europe,” the authors said.
In the Sultanate, the prevalence of tobacco use among Omani men aged 15 years and above was estimated to be 17.9 per cent in 2010.“It is predicted to increase to 21.4 per cent, 26.9 per cent, and 33.3 per cent in 2015, 2020, and 2025, respectively, if tobacco control measures remain static,” the paper warned.
According to the study, the MPOWER initiative is imperative to Oman’s goal of achieving a 30 per cent reduction in the prevalence of current tobacco use by persons aged 15 and above by the year 2025.
That target was endorsed by the Sultanate after it was adopted by the World Health Assembly as part of a comprehensive global monitoring framework in 2013.