INFLUENCE OF INTERVENTION ON MEDIA RELATING TO TOBACCO CONTROL ISSUES IN INDIA - Essay Example

As tobacco consumption becomes a global concern, countries around the globe face the rising concerns attributable to tobacco use. In this condition, India is not different. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS India,2010) is a mechanism that has been developed to track tobacco prevalence, exposure to second hand smoking, exposure to tobacco advertising /promotion, cessation, knowledge and attitudes; that are critical for tobacco control program, policies and evaluation. GATS India provide these estimates at national and state level and has captured urban/rural and gender specific data.

In the report, GATS India (2010) has shown that 35% of adults or one-third of the population of India use tobacco in some form or another. Of these 35% adult users, 21 % use only smokeless tobacco, 9% only smoke and 5% smoke as well as use smokeless tobacco. Based on these figures, it is estimated that tobacco users in India is round 274.9 million, with 163.7 million users of only smokeless tobacco, 68.9 million only smokers, and 42.3 million users of both smoking and smokeless tobacco (GATS India, 2010, p xxxv).

Furthermore, the prevalence of overall tobacco use among males is 48 percent while among females is 20 percent (GATS India, 2010). In this context, the government of India, in 2003, has enacted the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003 (COTPA). The law prohibits the use of tobacco to protect the health of the public, to ban its advertisement and to provide for regulation of trade, commerce, production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the country (Ministry of Health, 2003).

The key elements of COPTA includes The Smoke-free Rule was revised on October 2008 to redefine the term ‘public place’ in order to