International Clinical and Medical Case Reports Journal (ISSN: 2832-5788) | Volume 3, Issue 6 | Research Article | Open Access DOI
Naveen Shyam Sundar R*
Radhika Sharma1, A Bhagyalakshmi A2, Naveen Shyam Sundar R3*, Devyani Wanjari3, Arjun Kumar Jakasania4
1Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Shushila Nayar School of Public Health, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram, Maharashtra, India
2Head of the Department, Community medicine, B.J.Medical college, Ahmedabad , Gujarat, India
3Senior Resident Doctor in the Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Shushila Nayar School of Public Health, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram, Maharashtra, India
4Associate Professor in the Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Shushila Nayar School of Public Health, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram, Maharashtra, India
*Correspondence to: Naveen Shyam Sundar R
Fulltext PDFBackground: Health warning labels on tobacco product packaging are a cost-effective way to disseminate information to the public on the dangers of tobacco and benefits of quitting. It is one of the key components of a comprehensive, integrated approach to tobacco control. “W” in MPOWER denotes “Warn about the dangers of tobacco.” Hence study was undertaken to determine perception and effect of health warning labels (HWLs) Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act i.e., COTPA on smokeless tobacco users and non-users in rural area.
Methods: An observational cross-sectional study done where users and non-users of smokeless tobacco were interviewed by house-to-house survey from 3-4 randomly selected villages of selected one out of three primary health centre (PHCs) for Rural health training of Medical College.
Results: 286 users and 310 non-users of smokeless tobacco(SLT) were interviewed.80.42% users and 59.68% non-users noticed HWLs.46.09% of users felt nothing by seeing HWLs.42.17% of users and 70.81% non-users advised their near ones not to use SLT by seeing health warning label.4.45% non-users reported that they did not use the SLT after seeing the HWL.5 users were tried to quit/reduce use of SLT by seeing health warning labels.
Conclusion: Purpose of HWLs were to make people more concern about risks of using smokeless tobacco and also preventing non-user from initiating use. They are effective if large pictures with texts and emotional appeals are used. Though HWLs didn’t have expected effect on current users but they advised close ones for not using smokeless tobacco after seeing it.
Smokeless tobacco; Health warning labels; Pictorial; Toll free number
Radhika Sharma, A Bhagyalakshmi A, Naveen Shyam Sundar R, Devyani Wanjari, Arjun Kumar Jakasania.A Perception and Effect of Health Warning Labels (Hwls) Under COTPA on Smokeless Tobacco Users and Non-Users’rural Part of a District of Gujarat. Int Clinc Med Case Rep Jour. 2024;3(6):1-12.