Don’t Be Fooled By Sweet Flavored Shisha, It Is Killer – Youth Advised

The youth have been warned not to be fooled by the color and sweet scented shisha since they are all the same.

There is a misconception that shisha is not as bad as cigarettes because the tobacco is flavor passes through water.

According to statistics, the volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long shisha session is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking about a hundred to two hundred sticks of cigarettes at a go.

The Ministry of Health and its stakeholders in health, have therefore appealed to smokers to quit the habit in order to regain their health as Ghana joins the rest of the world to mark World No Tobacco Day.

“Quitting as soon as possible is therefore essential to prevent the onset of chronic lung disease, which is potentially irreversible once it has developed,” it advised.

They encourages the individuals and communities to adapt healthy lifestyles, devoid of smoking and any form of tobacco use.

This was contained in a press statement signed by the Minister for Health, Kweku Agyeman Manu, to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) which falls on the May 31^st of every year.

According to statistics from tobacco Atlas Ghana, more than 425,200 men, 69,200 women and 2,700 boys who smoke cigarettes each day, killing about 75 men a week and making an on-going dire public health threat.

The release pledged government’s commitment to ensuring that there is less exposure of the public to the harmful effects of tobacco use by deploying best known practices and regulations restricting the use of tobacco.

“Ghana is committed to using the smoke-free provisions including Graphic Health Warnings to reduce social acceptability of tobacco use, promote cessation, help users to quit and prevent initiation of tobacco use especially among the youth,” it said.

The World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity to focus on raising awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use, exposure to second hand smoke and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.