By: Meenu Anand, Director of Strategy Initiatives at the American Cancer Society
It is not a surprise to witness the tobacco industry targeting women in the developing world through advertising campaigns that exploit women’s aspirations to become independent and self-reliant. Needless to say, the industry is also making every effort to keep cigarettes cheap and affordable for their new marketing targets. Those strategies are quite simply a replay of their tactics in the developed world.
While it is true that increasing tobacco use is not the only issue the developing world – and women in particular – face today, it is certainly one for which the path of devastation is known. It is also one we know how to bring under control. The global community therefore has a choice: It can sit back and watch the impending economic and health destruction unfold over the coming decades, or it can take action now and stop the industry from luring women into smoking.
Let’s strengthen our voices to expose this deceptive tactic used by the tobacco industry to exploit the hopes of gender equality among women in developing countries!
Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of cancer death, accounting for 20% of cancer deaths worldwide. Although current prevalence of adult cigarette smoking is low in places like Africa, cigarette consumption is increasing because of the adoption of Western behaviors and aggressive marketing by tobacco companies targeting youth and women that portray smoking as a stylish activity.
Cigarette smoking not only increases the risk for lung cancer, but it also doubles the risk of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is already a leading killer of women in developing countries, causing devastating effects on families and communities.
In addition to being linked to an increased risk for 13 other types of cancer in the body, for women, using tobacco can damage reproductive health and is harmful to babies. Women who smoke are more likely to have trouble getting pregnant and have a higher risk of miscarriage, early delivery (premature birth), stillbirths, and low birth-weight babies. Furthermore, tobacco use is closely related to poverty in developing nations. Families often have to sacrifice essential household expenditures such as food and education (most likely for young girls) in order to afford tobacco.
While most developing nations have signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), few have implemented the obligations laid out by the framework. Adopting and enforcing proven tobacco control strategies, such as raising the price of tobacco products, banning the advertisement of tobacco products, and educating women and girls on the harms of tobacco, can change the current course of rising tobacco use among women.
This year the American Cancer Society will celebrate its 100th birthday as the largest voluntary health organization in the world, and we have made tobacco control a priority for our global work. In observance of International Women’s Day, we ask for collective voices to amplify the message that governments should stop the predatory practices of the tobacco industry in targeting women.
Together, we have an unprecedented opportunity to change the course of the looming tobacco epidemic in women.
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