Nagaland: ‘Tobacco Free Schools to Tobacco Free Homes’ campaign launched

Nagaland has taken the initiative to promote an anti-tobacco campaign from schools to families. 

The State Health and Family Welfare Department started the "Tobacco Free Schools to Tobacco Free Homes" campaign. 

School kids are urged to raise awareness among their parents and siblings about the dangers of smoking, chewing tobacco, and spitting as part of the project. 

Their family members should also be informed of the fundamental rules of the Tobacco Control Law, including the prohibition of smoking in public places. 

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To be eligible for a Tobacco Free Home badge, children are given a checklist that must be followed in their homes. 

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2), 43.3 per cent of adults in Nagaland smoke tobacco or use smokeless tobacco, compared to a national average of 29 per cent, said Dr Arenla Walling, State Nodal Officer, National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), in a concept note. To begin, Y. Kiheto Sema, Commissioner and Secretary of Health and Family Welfare (HFW) presented a "Tobacco Free Home Certificate" to 25 student ambassadors from Little Flower Higher Secondary School (LFHSS), Kohima, as part of the State's National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP). 

The goal of the "Tobacco Free Home" Campaign is to urge kids, particularly females, to make their parents, grandparents, and siblings aware that health is wealth and that quitting smoking is an effective means of remaining healthy. If every kid in a tobacco-free school participates in this campaign, thousands of households may be transformed. 

"Creating awareness in every home will have a significant impact on the overall behaviour of citizens, ultimately reducing the number of patients, deaths, and economic burden in society," Sema hoped. Sema stated that 43 per cent of youngsters in the northeastern state's 13-15 age group are tobacco smokers, despite the fact that 356 schools out of the 2,684 government and private schools in Nagaland have been proclaimed tobacco-free institutions. 

To raise student knowledge of the dangers of tobacco use, the health department intends to classify all educational institutions, both public and private, as Tobacco Free Zones (TFZ) beginning May 1.