From Editor’s Desk
Dr. M. Sabir
Dear Friends,
On behalf of all the members of Indian Chest Society, I express our sincere thanks for taking interest in our website ‘Public Forum’. It is a matter of satisfaction for us that in a short span it has been visited more than 24000 times.
Friends, today is 15th. ‘World COPD Day’, an event held each November to raise awareness for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) worldwide. It is expected, on this day patients, general public, doctors & other health care professionals and agencies in government as well as in private sector come together to take action against COPD, one of the world’s most prevalent respiratory diseases.
COPD is a non-communicable lung disease, that progressively induce disability and is responsible for more than 3 million deaths every year, and up to half of people with the disease don’t know they have it. Without treatment, COPD is generally a progressive disease, and as the disease gets worse patients become incapacitated and breathless even during performing everyday activities. For more information about COPD please visit scholarly article by our president Dr. Virendra Singh on this web site titled ‘COPD; The Terror of the 21st Century.
This year’s World COPD Day theme, is “Breathe In The Knowledge,” emphasizes patient education and acquiring knowledge for improving early diagnosis, better management through smoking cessation and new treatment options to control the growing burden of COPD. Worldwide, the most commonly encountered risk factor for COPD is cigarette smoking. followed by dusts and chemicals encountered on the job and smoke from biomass fuels burned for cooking and heating in poorly ventilated dwellings, especially in developing countries. Global Health Observatory data (GTO), in 2015, estimated that, over 1.1 billion people around the world were smoking tobacco, and it is predicted that 1.5 to 1.9 billion people will be smokers in 2025. In our country about one third of adult population is consuming tobacco in one or other form, and 45% of them are smoking cigarette, bidi, chilem or hukka.
It is estimated that 10-15 % of total deaths in the world are related to tobacco consumption, most of the tobacco users are suffering from chronic respiratory and heart diseases, cancers of many organs and many more diseases causing incapacitation, sufferings and economic loss to family. Nicotine in the tobacco produces a feeling of freshness and alertness, removes tiredness in some of the users, and this makes a person to use it again & again. Addictive power of tobacco is many times more than alcohol, opium, bhang and barbiturates, but not very difficult to leave this habit. With family support, self confidence and firm determination, tolerating some manageable inconvenience, one can get rid of this addiction within two three days.
“It’s never too late to quit smoking.” World Health Organization, governments of many countries and NGOs are trying hard for reducing use of tobacco worldwide. It is good there is significant decrees in tobacco consumption in many developed countries but in under developed & developing countries it is increasing. As a result of anti tobacco campaigns, and prohibition regulations by central & state governments and some NGOS, luckily tobacco smoking is showing little declining trends in our country.
Indian Chest Society has decided to launch a campaign to increase awareness for smoking cessationthrough ‘Public Forum ‘ from this COPD day. We will be bringing relevant inspiring articles about smoking cessation from renowned pulmonologists and opinion makers in the society. Your feedbacks and suggestions are valuable for us.
Jai Hind
Dr.M.Sabir
Founder Editor
ICS-Public Forum