Passive smokers beware!

Malvern Mugadzikwa Features Correspondent
Tinashe (not real name), was shocked when he went to a doctor with chest pains and tests revealed that he was suffering from a respiratory tract infection common among smokers.

“I have never been a smoker the whole of my life, little did I know that inhaling smoke from smokers could cost my life,” Tinashe said.

“Continuous coughing and endless chest pains made me want to go for some tests. It was after the doctor’s results that I realised how harmful passive smoking is to non-smokers”.

Tinashe recovered from the illness and is his sprightly self again.

However, some have not been as lucky as they have developed life-threatening conditions like coronary heart disease or suffered strokes caused by smoking without them drawing a single puff from a cigarette.

Passive smoking is a public health concern posing a risk to the public as well as unborn babies while there are no regulations to protect non-smokers.

Many children especially those in urban areas have developed health complications related to passive smoking some of which affect them for life.

“Most people get surprised when they get to know that they have been affected by diseases that are caused by smoking yet they have never taken tobacco,” said oncologist Dr Annah Nyakabau.

“The danger of passive smoking is that it is more risky to non-smokers than smokers. There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Any exposure to tobacco smoke, even an occasional cigarette, or exposure to second hand smoke is harmful.”

Frequent exposure to other people’s smoke can cause lung cancer and increases risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, upper airway, middle ear and lung infections pneumonia, bronchitis, small but significant reduction in lung function, increased frequency and severity of symptoms in asthmatic patients and increase risk of meningococcal diseases.

“Adults are also affected by illnesses such as chronic obstructive airways disease, increased risk of cancers including lung, head and neck, bladder, pancreas, cervix, prostate and breast,” says Dr Nyakabau.

Dr Nyakabau also said most people believe home-made cigarettes are less harmful than branded ones and yet they are equally dangerous.

“Though the home-made contains more tar compared to the branded, and the rest of the harmful compounds are equally the same. Rolling your own cigars, it still contains the addictive nicotine, carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals resulting in more or less similar harmful effects,” Dr Nyakabau said.

Apart from the physical pain and discomfort patients bear cost of treatment.

Other challenges include detection and diagnostic equipment which may not be available at some health facilities as well as treatment-related challenges such as the burden of cost of care on the patients and family, availability of adequate trained staff and local evidence to guide local policy and local treatment guidelines.

According to another health expert, Dr Melinda Mushonga, said passive smoking affects pregnant women and unborn children in various ways.

“Some of the effects of passive smoking on pregnancy and the expected child include low birth weight, poor physiological sensory, motor and attention responses, increased risk of sudden infant deaths and fatal sleep accidents,” Dr Mushonga said.

“There is also increased risk of miscarriage, pre-term labour, depending on the degree of exposure, allergies as well as small risk of birth defects.”

Phillip Muza (25), a non-smoker, said that he was not aware of the health risk posed by passive smoking but only had a sense that is had some negative effects on health.

“Whenever I get exposed to the smoke from those smokers I have a headache,” Muza said.

“To me it is just something that comes and passes but I don’t really know the effects it has on my health. However, naturally it irritates inhaling smoke from someone’s exhaled smoke. I wish if there certain places designated for smokers to do their smokers it could help the ignorant public.”

Despite the harmful effects of smoking, tobacco is Zimbabwe’s top cash crop.

Because of the possible health risks associated with its consumption, there has been a huge anti-tobacco campaign by WHO with the support of the United Nations.

In recent years the world body, through WHO, has co-ordinated various campaigns to discourage smoking.

Some of the strategies include banning tobacco advertising and tobacco consumption in public places as well as charging tax on cigarettes.

Tobacco production is a multi-million-dollar industry in the country employing not only the farmers and processors but also providing business for transporters, producers of inputs and thousands of small-scale vendors at auction floors.

The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Routine Monitoring System on the number of deaths and causes in 2008 found that deaths emanating from respiratory conditions that could be associated with smoking were 1 500, followed by those from viral infections at 1 320.

The figures are not too high are still a cause for concern as one human death is too many especially if it is due to preventable causes.

On July 16 2014 President Mugabe signed the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, an international treaty composed of obligations to managing the health and economic impacts of tobacco.

For Zimbabwe to join the anti-tobacco bandwagon or not is dilemma. If the country lends its full support to the anti-tobacco, lobby it will deal a heavy blow to the local tobacco industry and downstream sectors which benefit from tobacco.

Ignoring calls to ban tobacco means more illnesses and death due to passive smoking.

Deputy director in the department of mental health services and substance abuse in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Mrs Dorcas Sithole said the ministry has intensified campaigns to protect non-smokers.

“As the ministry, we have intensified campaigns against public smoking spelling the health impact of the use of tobacco,” Mrs Sithole said.

“According to the Public Health Act, tobacco smoking in public places such as public transport, public halls, public gatherings, eating places including on the streets is an offence.”

In Zimbabwe, the Public Health Act Chapter 15:09 of 1996 and Statutory Instrument of 2002 stipulates that smoking in public places such as halls, public offices, buses, schools and commuter omnibuses is prohibited.