Pediatricians want action against smoking to protect babies, youths

As Nigeria joins the world to mark the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2019, the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) have called for concerted efforts to discourage smoking, which they said affect over 25 million Nigerian children and adolescents.

The association said these constitute the school population and are at risk of tobacco use or smoke exposure, as second or third hand passive smokers.

President of PAN, Prof. Austine Omoigberale and the Technical Adviser to PAN, Prof. Edwin Eseigbe, who briefed newsmen yesterday in Abuja, said this year’s theme, ‘Tobacco and Lung Health’ shows that only absolute ban on smoking can save babies and children from the harmful effects of smoking.

Prof. Omoigberale who underscored the dangers inherent in secondhand smoking said everything must be done to save pregnant women and their babies from the dangerous effects of tobacco smoke.

Prof. Eseigbe who delivered a paper at the event said while smoking is deleterious to the health of humans, exposure to second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 166, 000 children’s deaths worldwide annually.

He said the third hand smoke is usually as a result of chemical residue on surfaces where smoking has occurred, which can persist long after the smoke itself has been cleared from the environment.

He said, “This type of smoke has been found out to adverse effects on the liver and lungs. Children, especially crawling children are particularly vulnerable to this type of smoke. Tobacco use has serious health and social implications. Tobacco is a risk factor for the six leading causes of death. It is estimated that by 2030 about 8 million persons will die per year from tobacco use.

“In Nigeria, the yearly tobacco related death is 16,100. It has been reported that 4.7m Nigerians use tobacco products, 3.1 million smoke and 2.4 million are daily smokers, 3.6 -16.2 percent in-school aged 13-15 years smoke. 20-50 percent of these in-school children are exposed or are at risk of being exposed to second hand smoke. Childhood tobacco use and exposure to smoke, in Nigeria, has grave implications.

“Burning tobacco produces more than 4,000 chemicals including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tars, increases mucus production, clogging of the airways, increasing susceptibility to infections, pneumonias, development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Chronic bronchitis and emphysema), irritation and destruction of lung tissue, exacerbation of asthmatic attacks, lung cancer,” he said.