As health care advocates for children, pediatric staff and family medicine have to alert parents and older children about the risk of potential nicotine use among children and teenagers.
Several tobacco promotions may reach children in early age, either through social media or peers.
Many smoking habits and other forms of nicotine use begin in adolescence, hence the vital role of the health care system to prevent and proactively addresse this risk before such health risk problems arise in this vulnerable population.
As health care advocates:
What's the best way to address nicotine prevention among children and parents?
Dear Mohamad-Hani Temsah
Greetings!!
It is a very important topic indeed. Nicotine/Tobacco usage especially among children and teenagers is on a rise, globally. Cancer is a global problem, and regular, indiscriminate consumption of tobacco and related products is thought to be a crucial and one of the factors for development of oral malignancies. A lot of factors play in the initial urge among the teenagers/children for using tobacco. It may be due to their curiosity; may be due to bad company of friends; may be due to attractiveness towards the flashy ads of various tobacco products in either television or internet; or may be due to less knowledge of the harmful effects due to long-term exposure. To curve this global menace, the solution has to be solved both at an individual level and as well as strong policies should be taken by the concerned government health agencies. Necessary educative course material regarding harmful implications should be introduced at school/college level to discourage tobacco usage. Practice of healthy lifestyle should be encouraged among the youth/children. Respective governments worldwide on their side can increase the taxes on tobacco related products, which might discourage its usage among the public.
As, you have said and i agree that ".... Several tobacco promotions may reach children in early age, either through social media or peers....". Yes, in this age of high speed internet connectivity, children are more addicted to their computers/mobiles and get inspired from the flashy ads/promos. To solve this regular internet ads, forums etc with a strong focus on chronic harmful effects will be a step towards curving this menace. Health advisory symbol/image in the packaging of all tobacco and its associated marketed products should be strongly implemented.
Both the family and the health care providers have distinct roles in childhood nicotine avoidance.
On individual basis, the pediatrician needs to alert the parents from early childhood about the risks of peers and social media in introducing smoking to their child.
Later on, as the child goes into adolescence, the risk of substance abuse becomes more, therefore the American Academy of Family Physicians advocates in the teenagers to have individual counseling, that includes talking about the nicotine hazards.
Interventions to reduce tobacco use have not been well studied in adolescents, and therefore the health care system needs to research further into this major, rising health problem.
Though evidence regarding adolescents is insufficient to justify clinical guidelines, it is reasonable to discuss with each adolescent about tobacco use, provide them with suitable data on how tobacco use causes several diseases and death, and offer smoking cessation assistance if needed.
Because exposure to tobacco advertising increases experimentation and smoking rates among adolescents, the AAFP advocates against tobacco advertising aimed at this age group.
https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/1215/p1109.html
Educating both caregivers and children about risk factors that may lead to nicotine misuse help reduce nicotine harm.
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