Ghate Neeta
Consultant ENT Surgeon, Dr Mendadkar's Children Hospital; Founder Trustee and President, Association for Tobacco Use Hazards Awareness and Preventive Measures (ATHAPM), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Corresponding Author.
J Assoc Physicians India. 2025 May;73(5):79-80. doi: 10.59556/japi.73.0934.
Our tobacco hazards awareness work in Mumbai since 2014 had to be stopped with the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There was a need to prioritize and strengthen tobacco cessation efforts and disseminate information in society and to medical professionals and healthcare workers to highlight such facilities. Hence, this online tobacco hazards awareness initiative was undertaken on various platforms for a diverse audience. This included: 1. Creating awareness in society about the hazards of tobacco and the facilities available for cessation through articles for online newspapers, online talks, blogs, videos for news channel websites, and interviews on television (TV) in Marathi. 2. Capacity building for: a. Medical professionals by conducting lectures and presentations at medical conferences about the need to integrate tobacco control in healthcare delivery at all levels-to ask all adults about tobacco use in any form at each visit and document it. If using tobacco, advise, including elderly patients, to quit and share the toll-free quitline number or refer them. Address tobacco use in women and integrate tobacco cessation advice in antenatal care and preventing initiation of tobacco use by adolescents. b. Government healthcare staff-doctors and healthcare workers. c. Medical and dental undergraduate and postgraduate students through talks. 3. An online school-based tobacco hazards program was conducted. Using the online mode, dissemination of this information was possible across various regions of India. In addition to existing tobacco control initiatives, the online mode of creating awareness about incorporating tobacco control at all levels of healthcare delivery needs consideration for capacity building and training of the healthcare workforce. Tobacco control modules must be included in graduate and postgraduate medical training curricula across all specialties.
自2014年以来，我们在孟买开展的烟草危害宣传工作因2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行而不得不停止。有必要对戒烟工作进行优先排序并加强，向社会、医学专业人员和医护人员传播信息，以突出此类戒烟设施。因此，我们在多个平台上针对不同受众开展了这项在线烟草危害宣传倡议。这包括：1. 通过为在线报纸撰写文章、进行在线讲座、发布博客、为新闻频道网站制作视频以及用马拉地语进行电视采访，提高社会对烟草危害以及现有戒烟设施的认识。2. 开展能力建设，包括：a. 对医学专业人员，在医学会议上举办讲座和进行演示，强调在各级医疗服务中纳入烟草控制的必要性——每次问诊时询问所有成年人是否使用任何形式的烟草并记录下来。如果使用烟草，建议包括老年患者在内的所有人戒烟，并分享免费戒烟热线号码或为他们提供转诊。关注女性吸烟问题，将戒烟建议纳入产前护理，并防止青少年开始吸烟。b. 政府医护人员——医生和医护工作者。c. 通过讲座对医学和牙科本科及研究生学生进行培训。3. 开展了一项基于学校的在线烟草危害项目。通过在线模式，可以在印度各个地区传播这些信息。除了现有的烟草控制举措外，通过在线模式提高对在各级医疗服务中纳入烟草控制的认识，对于医护人员的能力建设和培训而言值得考虑。烟草控制模块必须纳入所有专业的医学本科和研究生培训课程。
