As the economic and political status of women in developing nations rises, their health is going to decline because so many of them will take up smoking, worry the authors of a new study published in a World Health Organization publication.
The study, published today in the "Bulletin of the World Health Organization," finds that millions of women in developing countries risk disease and early death in the coming decades as the tobacco industry exploits their rising economic and political status.
The study analyzed women's empowerment and smoking rates in 74 countries. It defined empowerment by such measures as voting rights, female representation in parliament, and rising incomes as compared to men.
It found that men are five times more likely to smoke than women in countries with low measures of female empowerment, such as China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uganda.
But in countries with relatively high female empowerment, such as Canada, the U.S., Australia, and the Scandinavian countries, women smoke almost as much as men do.
Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of the Tobacco Free Initiative at WHO, says he believes the tobacco epidemic is still in its early stages in many countries. That's why action needs to be taken now, to prevent these developing nations from experiencing the health crises caused by smoking that developed countries have experienced.
"This study highlights the need to act quickly to curb smoking among women, particularly in developing countries." Bettcher said in a news release.
"Strong tobacco control measures, such as bans on tobacco advertising, are needed to prevent the tobacco industry from targeting women."
Study co-author, Sara C. Hitchman who conducted the study with Dr. Geoffrey T Fong from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Waterloo here in Canada, believes that tobacco companies will try to exploit women's new-found senses of independence.
"We must pay more attention to the ways in which the tobacco industry is capitalizing on societal changes to target women, such as marketing cigarettes to women as a symbol of emancipation," she said.
"Women's empowerment must continue, but does the bad necessarily have to follow the good?"
The Tobacco Free Initiative at WHO encourages countries to prevent the spread of the tobacco epidemic by implementing policies outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. These include public awareness campaigns, packaging and promotion regulations and tax measures to reduce demand for tobacco products.
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization was created by WHO as a forum for public health experts to publish their findings, express their views and engage a wider audience on critical public health issues of the day. The views expressed by the writers do not necessarily represent the views of WHO.
