Pictorial warning on tobacco packs motivates people to quit: Study

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20

Recent studies conducted between December 2015 and March 2016 by the PGIMER, Chandigarh, has found that pictorial health warnings on packs of tobacco products do motivate people to quit.

Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health, said, “The study has thrown up interesting data, including the data regarding impact of pictorial health warnings on behavioural change in current tobacco users.”

According to the study 97.4 per cent of the current tobacco users noticed pictorial health warnings on packs. Out of these, 61.5 per cent thought of quitting smoking after seeing the health warning.

The health warnings were noticed maximum in the age group of 25 to 44 years. This is quite significant since there was no recent study available anywhere in India that showed decisively that pictorial health warning help in behavioural change in current tobacco users to quit.

Dr Sonu Goel, School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, said pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages were a cost-effective means to increase public awareness on the dangers of tobacco use.

The Health Ministry has issued a notification regarding increase in the size of pictorial health warnings, which will come into effect from April 1, 2016.

Palliative care for cancer patients

To provide them relief from acute pain and trauma caused due to the cancer, the state government is now emphasising on providing good quality of palliative care to cancer patients. A pilot project in this regard was initiated last year in Patiala by the Health Department, wherein a total of 479 patients availed relief under palliative care programme. A strategy is being formulated to cover the entire state on the basis of the experience gathered from the pilot project in Patiala