‘100,000 die annually due to tobacco use in country’

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed has said that almost 100,000 people die in Pakistan while 5.4 million deaths occur worldwide because of tobacco consumption.

He said the health department was taking steps to create awareness about the hazards of cigarettes, biris and cigars as well as chewable tobacco like gutka, mainpuri and pan. Dr Sagheer said that the theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day was gender and tobacco, and it would draw particular attention to the harmful effects of tobacco on women and girls. It would also highlight the need for nearly 170 parties to the WHO frameworks convention on tobacco control to ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in accordance with the constitutional principle, he added. ppi