World No Tobacco Day – ‘Youth Step In and Speak Out’

#TurksandCaicos, June 7, 2024 – On May 31^st 2024, the Turks and Caicos Islands will join the rest of the World in observance of World No Tobacco Day. This year’s theme, “Youth Step In and Speak Out”, is pivotal as it affords young people the opportunity to voice their concerns by speaking out against tobacco use, its effects, and how governments and non-government organisations can unite in the fight against tobacco sales and marketing practices targeting young people.

Smoking among youths remains prevalent and is increasing in certain countries, including the Turks and Caicos Islands. According to the World Health Organisation “children are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults in all regions and globally an estimated 37 million youth aged 13–15 years use tobacco”. This indeed is alarming as it provides further evidence of the damaging nature of the tobacco industries and the need for more policies and regulations prohibiting the promotion of and sale of tobacco products to young people.

Like many other countries in the region advocating for and promoting tobacco control, the TCI introduced the Tobacco Control Ordinance in 2016 to ensure smoke-free work and public spaces, eliminate illicit trade, ban advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, ban sales of tobacco to minors, and require health warnings on tobacco packages.

The Department of Behavioural Health Services, within the Ministry of Health and Human Services, is committed to continuing its work to ensure that our people, especially our youth, are allowed to grow up in an environment not threatened by tobacco use. As such, we are dedicated to strengthening policies and ensuring that legislation is enforced to protect our people from tobacco misrepresentation.

Dangers of smoking tobacco include but are not limited to:

• The development of non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, stroke and respiratory diseases
• Cancer
• Second-hand smoke exposure has also been implicated in adverse health outcomes, causing 1.2 million deaths annually
• Heated tobacco products (HTPs) contain tobacco and expose users to toxic emissions, many of which cause cancer and are harmful to health
• Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS), commonly known as e-cigarettes, do not contain tobacco and may or may not contain nicotine, but are harmful to health and undoubtedly unsafe.

Commenting on World No Tobacco Day, Honourable Shaun D Malcolm, Minister for Health and Human Services, stated that “tobacco control efforts remain a priority for the Turks and Caicos Islands. With the implementation of the Tobacco Control Ordinance in 2016, individuals are protected from the dangers that second-hand tobacco smoking can cause, whilst also regulating the distribution, sale and manufacturing of tobacco products. We stand committed to ensuring that our communities and people, especially our youth, are safeguarded against the tobacco epidemic and the preventable deaths and diseases it causes.”

For help with quitting smoking, please contact the Department of Behavioural Health Services at: 338-3613 in Grand Turk, or 338-3616 in Providenciales. Visit the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tciministryofhealth/ and the Department of Behavioural Health Services Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TCIDBHS for additional information.