More smoking cessation clinics can avert deaths

Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of death not only in Kenya but globally. Smoking raises the risk of developing many persistent health problems, including atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty deposits build up inside arteries, thereby raising the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. The risk of heart disease in smokers is double that of non-smokers.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the top three causes of death in 2016 globally were, coronary artery disease, stroke and chronic airways disease, all significantly associated with smoking of tobacco.

The latest WHO estimates show that more than seven million people worldwide including 8,100 Kenyans die every year from tobacco related diseases. This figure includes around 900,000 deaths from exposure to second-hand smoke.

For this year’s World No Tobacco Day themed ‘Tobacco and Heart Disease’, the WHO seeks to increase awareness on the link between tobacco and cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, calling for increased private and public participation in sensitising the public on the dangers of smoking to avert related deaths.

Since its inception in 2012, the Smoking Cessation Clinic at Aga Khan University Hospital has helped scores of tobacco addicts to quit the habit and save themselves from smoking related diseases.

A smoker becomes dependent on nicotine, which is one of the 4,000 odd ingredients in a cigarette. When taken in small quantities, nicotine acts on the brain serving to create a pleasant but transient excitement. This feeling though, wears off quickly leading to the lighting of a chain of cigarettes, leading to addiction.

The main role of a smoking cessation clinic is to help tobacco addicts to quit the habit completely and not relapse in future. Smoking is a difficult habit to stop and there is good evidence that shows quitting rates are substantially higher in those who seek help in a programme such as ours compared to those who go it alone. Such a programme involves multiple processes such as patient education and counselling, use of nicotine replacement therapy and other medication, and joining support groups.

Besides heart disease, smoking is responsible for other life shortening diseases including cancers affecting the throat, mouth, nasal cavity, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix. Stroke and impotence in men are other notable smoking related complications.

Even though Kenya has made significant progress on tobacco control in recent years, smoking continues to, not just claim many lives but also reduce the productivity and physical independence of even more, with huge resultant costs on the national economy.

Rolling out smoking cessation clinics at the county level can greatly help people quit smoking and ultimately relieve the government health spending on treatment of smoking related diseases.