Smoking Is a Public Health Issue - Term Paper Example

? Table of Contents Research 2. Introduction and background 3. Value of research 4. Aim of the research paper 5. Objective of the research paper 6. Research questions 7. Research structure/ methodology 8. Conclusion 9. References Word count: 1705 1. Research title Smoking is a public health issue. 2. Introduction and background While alcohol consumption and its adverse affects when consumed in limited proportions, is debatable, the same is not true with smoking. It is proved that smoking has ill-effects on the smokers as well as the non-smokers, even when small numbers are smoked regularly. Also, there are several public health measures in almost every country, and this effort draws attention to the fact that smoking is indeed an ethical issue (Public Health Chapter 6, 2011). A 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) report observed that tobacco use is a global epidemic with tobacco-related deaths reaching 5 million deaths a year, and which could increase to 8 million a year by 2030 (Donaldson et al., 2011). World Bank’s Health-Nutrition-Population (2003) report points to WHO’s (2002) statistics that there are about 1.2 billion regular smokers and of which, about one-third of whom are above the age of 15. Also, this report indicates that many among these do not know the harm caused by smoking in spite of the dearth of information available in this new age of globalization and Information Technology (IT). However, the common signage, “smoking is injurious to health” may have become a common practice among every nation and tobacco product manufacturers; but the fact remains that tobacco-induced deaths have risen 10-folds in the 21st century, as compared to those in the 20th century (Kohrman, 2010). More recent products of tobacco, like light cigarettes (Foulds et al., 2003) and electronic cigarettes (Cahn and Siegel, 2010) have been marketed as less harmful than the usual tobacco smoking involving combustion. This may be the case given the widespread ignorance on the harmful effects of tobacco among smokers and non-smokers, that smoking causes diseases like lung cancer, etc. and also causes premature death. This scenario has raised serious legal and ethical issues with smoking and manufacturing tobacco related products (World Bank’s Health-Nutrition-Population, 2003). A WHO (2002) report points that most of the over 1.4 million lung cancer deaths across the world are due to smoking and there is a significant number of never smokers too who are victims of this disease (Thun et al., 2008). Nicotine in tobacco is found to be addictive in nature and Royal College of Physicians has categorized this chemical substance as a drug of dependence or addiction, also considered a ‘harder’ drug than heroin or cocaine (Public Health Chapter 6, 2011). Notwithstanding the harmful effects of smoking among active smokers, smoking by active smokers is also found to affect others who are non-smokers or never smokers. Never smokers are life-long non-smokers, but even these individuals are adversely affected by the poisonous smoke that other active smokers release through combustion. There have been a number of studies on the mortality and morbidity among never smokers, of which Thun et al.’s (2008) study offers significant insights based on a study of 13 cohorts and 22 cancer registries from across ten countries over varying time periods and geographic regions. It has been found that this study analyses the trends of mortality and morbidity among a range of never smokers which are based on a significant number of variables, and this complex analysis needs to be used in particular contexts that help the research focus on the issue of public health. Hawamdeh et al. (2003) studied the effect of passive smoking on children’s health; Samet et al. (2009) studied the health risks for never smokers along with environmental risks due to smoking by active smokers, by referring to the high mortality and morbidity in the US due to lung cancer, of which it is found that 10-15 percent of lung cancer instances was also due to factors other than active smoking. Further, study by Gonseth et al. (2011) has established that a relation between smoking and loss of appetite does exist among active smokers and smokers practicing cessation. This reiterates the many observations that smoking is indeed injurious to health for both smokers and non-smokers; and there have been several attempts and initiatives by almost every country in combating this issue of smoking related health risks as concerning public health. There are instances of several initiatives by many of the governments in proposing banning smoking in public places like in Gujarat, India (Donaldson, 2011), residential buildings in New England (Winickoff, 2010), etc. World Bank’s Health-Nutrition-Population (2003) observes that there is a need to to alert and provide information to smokers about the health risks of smoking, and mandatory labeling on tobacco related products is an effective way which is in practice. 3. Value of research The Wanless Report (2007) defines Public Health as “The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations - public and private, communities and individuals” (Royal College of Nursing, 2007). The various observations in the above section reiterate the importance for further research on the need for treating smoking as a public issue as also indicated by the definition of public health. The scale of health risks that smoking poses for both smokers and non-smokers is huge and the impact of the initiatives to reduce active smoking and its effects on smokers and others seems low, and requires more research on the subject of considering smoking as a public health issue. 4. Aim of the research paper This research aims at identifying the risks associated with smoking, to both smokers and non-smokers, and to study if this epidemic is indeed treated as a public health issue. Literature suggests that smoking poses serious health risks in the form of lung cancer among active smokers and passive smokers; and there are about 1.4 million deaths due to this disease of lung cancer. Against this background, it becomes imperative to study the relevance of high mortality and morbidity rates with smokers, both active and passive smokers based on a range of factors like age, gender, ethnicity, region, etc. Key issues to be studied during this research aim at identifying: The extent of smoking in the different regions, If smoking is prevalent in all ages and among both genders, if so, to what extent, To what extent are the smokers and non-smokers aware of the ill effects of smoking on the health of individuals who smoke? The extent to which smokers, non-smokers, public organizations, governments, etc. are aware of the risks involved with smoking and what measures do they take to alert and provide information on the ill effects of smoking to smokers, and Finally, if smoking is attracting enough attention from public health organizations and if there is any attempt to declare it as a public health issue while implementing measures to combat the epidemic and to what extent are these measures successful in reducing smoking and preventing non-smokers from taking to the addiction. 5. Objective of the research paper To address the epidemic like situation of high instances of lung cancer associated with active and passive smokers, where contribution of other factors towards the disease is low, the efforts of the various public health organizations, tobacco manufacturing companies, federal governments, individuals, etc. needs to be studied in detail to understand the importance given to combating this epidemic caused due to smoking. Literature review of various sources from like WHO website, country specific initiatives and reports, health journals, academic research papers, etc. will be considered best sources of information for this study to help understand if smoking is considered and addressed as a public health issue by the different organizations of the world. If successful in identifying the role of public health organizations in combating smoking and the occurrence of lung cancer as a public health issue, further research may be needed to establish the nature of smoking epidemic as a public health issue; by quantitative data gathering through primary research, that would be helpful in proposing a more suitable action plan for considering smoking as a public health issue and to suggest strategies based on the behavioral patterns of smokers and non-smokers. 6. Research questions Some of the questions that this research aims to answer are: 1. How widespread is the addiction to smoking? 2. Among which age groups, gender, and regions is it prevalent and why? 3. What are the ill effects of smoking on the health of individual smokers and others around? 4. Is lung cancer caused due to smoking? If so, how serious is this disease among smokers and non-smokers? 5. What measures are the different communities or organizations taking in combating smoking? And what measures are in place to help reduce smoking and its ill effects on both smokers and non-smokers? 6. How successful are the measures being implemented? 7. Are there any specific tested and standardized measures that can help smokers in cessation and to prevent non-smokers to avoid taking to addiction? 7. Research structure/ methodology Following the identification of the research topic and having done the preliminary literature review, further steps in research efforts can be framed by using the research process, ‘onions’ by Saunders et. al. (2003) and identify the approaches and strategies, along with methods for data gathering and analysis. Figure 1 represents the ‘onion’ process for research: Figure 1: Research structure. Source: (Korpel, I.R, 2005). The research will take a mixed philosophy approach and will gather both qualitative and quantitative information from a range of sources including published journals, academic research, reports by WHO, official websites of the various federal governments, health related online website statistics, etc. for better results. Primary data will also be gathered through questionnaire, case studies, and interviews to gauge the awareness of smoking as a public health issue, the measures taken to bring this awareness to reduce smoking and smoking related morbidity and mortality, and the success of such measures. The data gathered will finally be subjected to analysis to be able to suggest suitable strategies to increase the effectiveness of measures to address smoking as a public health issue. 8. Conclusion The final research report will have the format as outlined below: 1. Title 2. Research Question 3. Introduction 4. Literature Review 5. Research Methodology 6. Conceptual Framework 7. Primary Research 8. Analysis 9. Findings 10. Conclusions & Recommendations 11. References 12. Appendices 9. References 1. World Bank’s Health-Nutrition-Population. (2003). Tobacco Pack Information. www.worldbank.org/hnp 2. Public Health Chapter 6. (2011). Case study – Alcohol and tobacco. http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/sites/default/files/files/Public%20health%20Chapter%206%20-%20Alcohol%20and%20tobacco.pdf 3. Donaldson, A.E. et al. (2011). A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of India’s 2008 Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places in Gujarat. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 4. Kohrman, M. (2010). New Steps for Tobacco Control in and Outside of China. Asia Pac J Public Health, 22:189S. DOI: 10.1177/1010539510373012. 5. Foulds, J. et al. (2003). Effect of smokeless tobacco (snus) on smoking and public health in Sweden. Tobacco Control, 12. 6. Cahn, Z. and Siegel, M. (2010). Electronic cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy for tobacco control: A step forward or a repeat of past mistakes? Journal of Public Health Policy. Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 7. Thun, J.M. et al. (2008). Lung Cancer Occurrence in Never-Smokers: An Analysis of 13 Cohorts and 22 Cancer Registry Studies. PLoS Medicine. Volume 5. Issue 9. 8. Hawamdeh, A. et al. (2003). Effects of passive smoking on children’s health: a review. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3. 9. Samet, M.J. et al. (2009). Lung cancer in never smokers: clinical epidemiology and environmental risk factors. Clin Cancer Res. 15(18). doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-0376. 10. Gonseth, S. et al. (2011). The tobacco industry’s past role in weight control related to smoking. European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckr023. 11. Winickoff, et al. (2010). Regulation of Smoking in Public Housing. The New England journal of medicine. 12. Royal College of Nursing. (2007). Nurses as partners in delivering public health. RCN, London. www.rcn.org.uk/direct. 13. Korpel, I.R. (2005). Research Methodology. University of Pretoria Etd. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03022005-151856/unrestricted/03chapter3.pdf Read More