Should smoking be banned in public places? Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy favours a ban, which he said is long overdue and crucial given the alarming health record that stacks up against exposure to tobacco use.
The time has come for a national debate on the issue of tobacco use in public places, Ramsammy said yesterday at a press briefing, and he urged stakeholders to start talking about “tobacco and what it is doing to our health and our children’s health”.
Among the leading causes of mortality in Guyana are chronic diseases caused by exposure to tobacco and within recent months figures have pointed to chronic diseases being a severe economic burden.
The minister told reporters that not enough is being said on tobacco but all this will change over the next few months as he continues to push for countrywide debates on the issue. As of 2005, the all health facilities in the country had been declared smoke-free zones, and more recently, the Ministry of Education signed on, creating smoke free schools and education facilities.
“Why should 82 per cent of this population which does not smoke continue to suffer as a result of secondhand smoke and why are we not discussing this issue more in offices, in our homes and hang-out spots across the country? Is it because we are too passive where this issue is concerned?” Ramsammy asked.
Ramsammy noted that several countries worldwide have moved against smoking in public places, adding that many more have implemented partial bans. He noted that cigarettes sales have been steady over the years and continue to hold steady though persons have complained about the high cost of living in the country.
According to the minister, Guyanese stop him wherever he goes to complain about the high cost of living and rising food prices and some who do are smoking. This, he said, is unacceptable given that cigarettes are not being sold cheaply.
He said the local health sector is moving to implement policies that are part of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control but noted that tobacco smuggling continues to pose a problem.
In Guyana studies have found that tobacco use among adolescents begin as early as ten years old, according to the Ministry of Health. It was found that one in every three students had their first cigarette before the age of ten, beginning as early as eight years, which supports global findings that the age of smokers was indeed falling.
Malaria hotspots
Updating the media on malaria, Ramsammy said that almost every week at least three areas in the interior are considered hotspots. He said that 45 per cent of the cases occur in Region Seven alone and together with four other regions, this contributed 92 per cent of the cases countrywide.
He named Omai, Mabura, Frenchman and Arimu mines as the three hotspots in the country right now with 35, 12 and 10 cases respectively. But of the three, Omai poses the biggest problem. Ramsammy noted that the Omai area is currently populated by persons who have moved in search of gold after the company pulled out.
“The area [Omai] has what I call speculators because they are speculating about whether gold is there and that is an area of grave concern to us. But we have people in the area and they are working on it,” he added.
Among other areas named as the top ten hotspots in the country were Aranka River, Issano, Waini River, Konawaruk, Mahdia, Cuyuni River and Siparuni River.
Though malaria numbers are down from the corresponding period last year, Ramsammy said a disturbing trend has emerged where some people are not complying with the ministry’s instructions to sleep under the impregnated bed nets, which are distributed free in the vulnerable areas.
As of June 30, 4,000 malaria cases were recorded while there were 5,500 for the same period last year. In 2006, over the same period there were in excess of 10,000 cases. But the health sector is on target to record less than 10,000 cases this year, according to Ramsammy. He said too, that since 2006 there has been an 80 per cent reduction in local malaria cases.
Since January, he said, there have been no reported cases of malaria in Regions Four, Five and Six but there were small numbers in Regions Two and Three. He said Regions Ten, One and Eight are still reporting a fair amount of cases.
He added that the malaria drug coartem is still the first line drug that is used while a few others are being used as well. Ramsammy said Guyana is currently conducting clinical trials with coartem as an effective malaria drug to treat the two types of malaria that are in the country. According to him, when completed this would be the first such tests to be carried out anywhere in the world.
Increased dengue
numbers
Ramsammy said dengue cases are still increasing but cautioned that there is no outbreak and no need for alarm. He said that that as of June 30 there were 250 reported cases of dengue in the country while the corresponding period last year saw 92 cases.
“There is certainly a greater amount of reporting for dengue than ever before but we are still concerned at the numbers that are coming in because at a worldwide and regional level, dengue is an issue,” he stated.
Later this month the ministry will carry out a fogging exercise on the East Coast and in Georgetown in advance of arrivals for Carifesta. Ramsammy said vector control teams would also be going out to communities to treat the water in homes with a focus on water tanks, which are breathing areas for the mosquitoes that carry dengue.
The minister added that there has been no reported case of haemorrhagic dengue this year while there have been two cases within the past two years and according to him, those cases were imported.