Today is World No Tobacco Day, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has designed this year's event to draw particular attention to the harmful effects of tobacco marketing towards women and girls. The WHO says women comprise about 20 percent of the world's more than 1 billion smokers. The new WHO report, “Women and health: today's evidence, tomorrow's agenda,” points to evidence that tobacco advertising increasingly targets girls. Data from 151 countries show that about 7 percent of adolescent girls smoke cigarettes, as opposed to 12 percent of adolescent boys. In some countries, almost as many girls smoke as boys.
Turkey, one of the 10 countries responsible for two-thirds of the world's tobacco consumption according to the WHO, has taken various initiatives to reduce tobacco consumption in the country, the most important of which is an indoor smoking ban enacted on July 19, 2009. As a positive reflection of these efforts, the Health Ministry announced that while tobacco consumption among women above the age of 18 was 19.5 percent in 2004, this figure has declined to 15.2 percent in 2010. The ministry says 1 million women, out of 5 million female smokers in Turkey, quit smoking in the past two years.
Although global smoking figures are frightening, the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths seems to be particularly alarming in Turkey. According to data provided by the Health Ministry, nearly 20 million people smoke in Turkey. An estimated 114,000 people die of smoking-related diseases every year in Turkey. Experts say smoking reduces a person's lifespan by seven to nine years.
On World No Tobacco Day 2010 and throughout this year, the WHO aims to encourage governments to pay particular attention to protecting women from the tobacco companies' attempts to lure them into lifetimes of nicotine dependence. The organization says by responding to the WHO's call, governments can reduce the toll of fatal and crippling heart attacks, strokes, cancer and respiratory diseases that have become increasingly prevalent among women.
In an effort to respond to the WHO's call, the Health Ministry aims to challenge the perception that smoking brings social status and independence to women and help them to lose weight. The ministry has prepared banners highlighting smoking's negative effects on women. Various demonstrations, concerts and conferences will also be held to raise awareness on the issue.
As part of these efforts, hundreds of women marched along İstiklal Street in İstanbul yesterday for a tobacco-free world. Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu and İstanbul Provincial Health Director Ali İhsan Dokucu as well as the women's branches of several political parties, high school girls and civil society organizations attended the march.
