Dimapur, March 28 (EMN): Nagaland is among the country’s communities that have the highest level of consumption of tobacco. This was disclosed during a 4th quarter meeting of the District Level Coordination Committee (DLCC) which was conducted in the deputy commissioner’s office in Dimapur on March 27.
Sarah Jamir, additional deputy commissioner of Dimapur, who presided over the function, exhorted the members to take the anti-tobacco campaign to a higher level.
Johnny Abraham of St. John School spoke about his experience on tobacco control. C Tetseo gave a presentation on global adult tobacco survey 2016-17 (GATS 2). He stated that there is a fourteen percentage point drops in the overall tobacco use in the state in last five years but Nagaland ranks No. 1 as the highest use of Panmasala with tobacco in the country. The survey shows that youth in Nagaland are getting into smokeless tobacco habits at an earlier age.
Nagaland tops the list in average monthly expenditure incurred by current smokers at INR1474.
With the alarming rise in the consumption of tobacco, Dr. C Tetseo has emphasised on the need to intensify the campaign. During the meeting, three schools and one college were awarded tobacco free certificate. Members from administration, education, publicity DMC, IDA, government and private schools attended the meeting.
