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Shelter children from smoking, parents told
2008-08-17 08:58:00
By Wilson Kaigarula
Tanzanian parents who smoke can and should play a big role in blocking the young generation from picking up the killer habit.
Public education and sensitization, strict enforcement of anti-smoking regulations and sharpening legislation against tobacco are also key facilitators of the campaign against a crop whose effects are medically and environmentally disastrous.
So says Professor Robert Machang`u, the National Professional Officer at the WHO Regional Office in Dar es Salaam and Chairman of the Tanzania Public Health Association.
He was speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, at a workshop for tobacco control champions - young citizens belonging to nearly 10 groups that are working closely with the Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum (TTCF).
Professor Machang`u told the nearly 200 youths assembled at Zanaki Secondary School that many children of smokers ended up as smokers through being cigarette errand boys and girls.
Elaborating, he said after delivering cigarettes from a shop, a parent usually asks a child to light up one.
To ensure that the stick is properly lit, a child pulls in one or two puffs and in the process embraces smoking as a hobby that is considered enjoyable but is disastrous.
Homes are thus breeding grounds for smokers, he said, urging parents to protect their offspring by refraining from manipulating them as cigarette buyers and lighters.
Parents who have been hooked to smoking, are eager to quit but don`t succeed, have been asked to guard their children against being similarly trapped.
The Professor said NGOs like TTCF should step up public education and sensitization against tobacco use, whose effects include incurable, deadly cancer, and enormous environmental degradation.
He decried laxity in enforcement of legislation, manifested, for instance, by non-placement of ``No Smoking`` signs in many public places.
He expressed optimism that the review of the existing legislation - The Tobacco Products (Regulation) Act 2003 - which has several loopholes, would
give the anti-tobacco campaign the much-needed push.
TTCF Executive Secretary Lutgard Kagaruki briefed the champions on the Forum`s history, achievements and setbacks, as well as the high cost of attempting to treat cancer patients.
They later held group discussions and proposed various methods for consolidating the campaign.
In-between, the Programme Office of the Tanzania Association of NGOs (TANGO), Musa Biligeya and Mathias Kimiro from an anti-alcohol group, IOGT (International Organisation of Good Templers), gave the youths a dose of advocacy skills.
Umbrella groups of the champions included Tanzania Youth Vision, Boy Scouts, Blue Cross, Keko Youths, Femina, School Health Clubs and Red Cross.
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