More than 4,700 Moldovans annually die because of smoking

Chisinau, 30 May /MOLDPRES/ - The consumption of tobacco and exposure to the tobacco smoke annually cause about 4,700 deaths in Moldova, of which 60 percent represent deaths of people able to work. The Health, Labour and Social Protection Ministry unveiled the statistics, in the context of the World No-Tobacco Day, annually marked on 31 May.      

According to the ministry, in the world, tobacco triggers about eight million of deaths yearly, of which one million of deaths caused by exposure to the tobacco smoke. The diseases caused by the tobacco consumption are: heart diseases, cancer, cerebral diseases, diabetes, destructive chronic pulmonary diseases, atherosclerosis.    

Physicians say tobacco is dangerous in any form of consumption and all tobacco products seriously hit the health of lungs. Smoking doubles the risk of developing tuberculosis and increases the number of deaths because of respiratory insufficiency. Children exposed to tobacco smoke are more predisposed to develop bronchial asthma and more often be hit by severe bronchial asthma.    

Specialists say that, in 2018, over 460 persons received counseling to give up smoking and 305 persons were treated with medicines against the tobacco addiction at the Republican Narcology Health Centre. More than 3,000 smokers benefited from assistance of counseling to give up smoking, provided by physicians narcologists from territorial medical and sanitary institutions. Family physicians also provided primary assistance of counseling to more than 156,000 smokers as to giving up smoking.      

On 28-31 May, all republican, municipal and district medical and sanitary institutions will organize and hold informative meetings, counseling of patients, public discussions in school institutions, roundtables, training seminars, workshops, appearances at radio and TV programmes, in order to inform about the risks of smoking for the health of lungs and the importance to give up smoking.