Of the more than 5 million people who die each year from tobacco use, approximately 1.5 million are women, reported the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO released the figures as this year’s World No Tobacco Day with the theme “Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women” is approaching (May 31).
Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco use could kill more than 8 million people by 2030, of whom 2.5 million would be women, WHO said, adding that approximately three-quarters of these female deaths would occur in the low-income and middle-income countries that are least able to absorb such losses.
WHO said tobacco companies are targeting women, citing the fact that the number of male smokers are dropping slowly in many countries, while that of female smokers is on the rise.
Women's reasons for smoking often differ from men's. The tobacco industry dupes many women into believing that smoking is a sign of liberation, and many women wrongly view smoking as a good way of keeping slim.
Women who smoke are more likely than those who do not to experience infertility and delays in conceiving. Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risks of premature delivery, stillbirth and newborn death and may cause a reduction in breast milk.
In some countries, the bigger threat to women is from exposure to the smoke of others, particularly men. Worldwide, of the 600 000 deaths caused every year by “second-hand” smoke, 64 percent occur in women.
For example, in China , where one-third of the world’s adult smokers live and around 97 percent of the smokers in the country are men, yet more than half of Chinese women of reproductive age are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.
For that reason, World No Tobacco Day 2010 focuses on the harm which tobacco marketing and smoke do to women. At the same time, it seeks to make men more aware of their responsibility to avoid smoking around the women with whom they live and work./.
WHO released the figures as this year’s World No Tobacco Day with the theme “Gender and tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women” is approaching (May 31).
Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco use could kill more than 8 million people by 2030, of whom 2.5 million would be women, WHO said, adding that approximately three-quarters of these female deaths would occur in the low-income and middle-income countries that are least able to absorb such losses.
WHO said tobacco companies are targeting women, citing the fact that the number of male smokers are dropping slowly in many countries, while that of female smokers is on the rise.
Women's reasons for smoking often differ from men's. The tobacco industry dupes many women into believing that smoking is a sign of liberation, and many women wrongly view smoking as a good way of keeping slim.
Women who smoke are more likely than those who do not to experience infertility and delays in conceiving. Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risks of premature delivery, stillbirth and newborn death and may cause a reduction in breast milk.
In some countries, the bigger threat to women is from exposure to the smoke of others, particularly men. Worldwide, of the 600 000 deaths caused every year by “second-hand” smoke, 64 percent occur in women.
For example, in China , where one-third of the world’s adult smokers live and around 97 percent of the smokers in the country are men, yet more than half of Chinese women of reproductive age are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.
For that reason, World No Tobacco Day 2010 focuses on the harm which tobacco marketing and smoke do to women. At the same time, it seeks to make men more aware of their responsibility to avoid smoking around the women with whom they live and work./.
