The house, the most closed area with anti-smoking action

At the end of 2004, a law sanctioned a year ago was regulated in Córdoba and qualified by many as "controversial", limiting the consumption of cigarettes in bars and restaurants, as well as in other public places.

A national law followed the law of Cordova.

Today, 15 years later, the province will seek to educate the public that this restriction – which few people now say – affects homes, where exposure to tobacco smoke is still high. The limitation will not be normative, but the main strategy to encourage it is education.

According to the National Risk Factor Survey (ENFR), the consumption of tobacco products increased from 29.7% in 2005 to 22.2% in 2018 at the national level.

If, in addition, possible scenarios of tobacco consumption are retained, the most radical drop was observed in bars and restaurants, where it went from 47.2% in 2009 to 21.5% in 2018.

The second area in which there was the greatest decrease was work: from 34% to 21.8%. In houses, on the other hand, the decrease was lower: from 33.9% to 25.1%.

There is still no data disaggregated by province of ENFR, but if we compare the years 2009 and 2013 (the last we have available), we also see a different change depending on the field of the ENFR. 39; application.

Cigarette smoking increased from 35.7% to 32.3% in households in Córdoba between 2009 and 2013. For Alicia Mombrú, Head of the Jurisdiction Directorate for Non-Communicable Disease Promotion and Protection Programs, statistically it is insignificant compared to the decrease in bars and restaurants (from 35.1% to 22.7% between 2009 and 2013) and at work (from 32.9% to 23.1%). cent between 2009 and 2013).

Mombrú emphasizes that the substances contained in the cigarette remain on the solid surfaces of the houses or on the clothes of the people who live there, which prolongs the harmful money in the long term.

"This concerns all the inhabitants of the house, especially children, because they are more vulnerable and still have to develop defense systems," he said. "They increase the number of colds, episodes of asthma, bronchitis, otitis and pneumonia due to contact with the smoke," he said. And he noted that the possibility of an early initiation to consumption is increasing.

"It's a space that is constantly contaminating, even though the cigarettes are extinct," he insisted.

Since the law can not contemplate prohibition – he says -, this factor can be attributed to the still high prevalence of exposure to smoke.

Smoking is badociated with diseases such as cancer (in various organs, particularly the lungs, mouth, pharynx and larynx), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and atherosclerotic disease (resulting in myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident and peripheral vascular disease).

As part of its preventive approach strategy, the province's Ministry of Health has developed the "My Smoke Free House" initiative, which allows interested parties to download a certificate bearing this legend. The idea is to facilitate, among other things, the coexistence between smokers and non-smokers, so that they do not – for example – insist that the former respect their decision not to do so. expose to cigarette smoke.

Other entities, such as some foundations, insist on demanding from the national government that the rules that restrict the advertising and promotion of tobacco products be respected.

The denunciation is recurrent, from institutions such as the Inter-American Foundation of the Heart Argentina (FIC), the Alianza Libre de Humo Argentina (Aliar) or the Foundation for the development of sustainable policies (Fundeps), whose law restricts advertising and promotion of tobacco products.

For example, tobacco companies organize events in which they record the information of the participants to send them information; and in the kiosks, boxes of cigarettes surrounded by light frames are placed in visible places for pbadersby, replacing posters and posters – which are expressly prohibited – which is considered a way to circumvent the law.

These badociations encourage the development of a new law prohibiting all forms of promotion, which, for example in Córdoba, already deserved a project presented to the legislature of the province by the vice-elected, Daniel Pbaderini.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 4.9 million people die from smoking, both direct (active smokers) and indirect (pbadive smokers).

"To protect the health of the people of the Americas region, there is an urgent need to intensify tobacco control measures, especially those that guarantee public spaces and workplaces without tobacco," he said. yesterday declared the Pan American Health Organization. Health (OPS), WHO Regional Office for the Americas.

The World No Tobacco Day campaign, commemorated today and promoted by the WHO, focuses on "Tobacco and Respiratory Health".

Actions for World No Tobacco Day

The different activities planned for today.

In the lobby of the Provincial Department of Health, tips and information will be provided from 9:30 to 12:00.

In the proposal "Healthy Post" of the Misericordia Hospital, from 8:30 to 12:00, there will be checks, tips, promotion of healthy habits and information will be provided to access the quarters of work and further studies. They organize the pneumology department of San Roque Hospital and the Cordovan Corporation of Pneumology (Soneco).

In August, a virtual training in smoking will be initiated with teaching scores for managers and teachers, in collaboration with the province's Ministry of Education.