By LeSiteinfo with MAP
The National Tobacco Control Program continues to strengthen and restructure, particularly since the launch of the national cancer prevention and control plan 2010-2019, which places the fight against tobacco at the top of its priorities, has underlined, Monday in the House of Representatives, the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Amine Tahraoui.
In response to a question from the democratic and social constitutional group, the minister noted that the second cancer prevention and control plan 2020-2029 provides for four measures to complete and consolidate the achievements made in recent years, noting that the strategy national multisectoral prevention and control of non-communicable diseases 2019-2029 has set among its objectives to limit tobacco consumption among populations aged over 15 to around 20% by 2029.
The ministry’s strategy, he continued, is mainly based on strengthening awareness and raising awareness of the harmful effects of smoking, in particular through the implementation of a national communication plan and the organization of campaigns on smoking for the benefit of all citizens, in addition to celebrating each year, like other countries around the world, World No Tobacco Day, by holding seminars and working sessions on the dangers of tobacco, the weaning methods and broadcasting of audiovisual messages on its harmful effects.
According to data presented by the minister, smoking is the cause of 8% of deaths in Morocco, 75% of deaths due to lung cancer and 10% of deaths linked to pathologies of the respiratory system.
Based on the results of an assessment carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection on the epidemiological and economic impact of smoking in Morocco for the year 2021, the minister announced that in 2019, tobacco was responsible for 74,000 cases of cardiovascular disease and 4,227 new annual cases of lung cancer, while the number of premature deaths linked to tobacco reached 12,800 case.
This assessment also revealed that the annual economic cost of tobacco in Morocco exceeds five billion dirhams and represents 8.5% of total medical expenditure, 0.45% of gross domestic product (GDP), distributed between direct medical costs (60.9%), costs caused by deaths (33%) and loss of productivity due to illness (6.1%).
The government official assured that smoking constitutes a real danger to health, stressing that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that smoking is one of the preventable causes of mortality, which causes the death of nearly 8 million people. people every year around the world.
S.L.
