India has Reached on the Descending Limb of Tobacco Epidemic

Till 2016, India was the second largest consumer of tobacco in the world, second only to China. However, in June 2017, the factsheet release of Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2 showed a 6% point decline in the prevalence of tobacco use among adults (>15 years) in the country.

This is a form of ecological study where trends in aggregate prevalence of tobacco use at country level (using secondary data) were studied in relation to corresponding policy actions over a period of two decades.

The results have shown that initial policy actions since the cigarettes act of 1975 till prevention of food adulteration Amendment act of 1995 were largely targeting cigarettes, and so smoking prevalence among men was constantly declining. On the other hand, smokeless tobacco use was increasing among both men and women and reached a peak in 2009-2010. After that, the government took strict policy actions including Food Safety and Standards Authority of India Gutka ban in 2011. There were other persistent efforts, which are discussed in this paper. As a result, a transition has occurred in relation to tobacco epidemic in India.

The paper has been concluded with a note that there is no room for complacence and we have a noncommunicable disease action goal to further decline the prevalence of tobacco use in the country to <24.22% by the year 2025.