South Sudan: Smoking is very deleterious to human health

By Peter Makuach Manyuat, Juba, South Sudan

Tuesday, October 15, 2019 (PW) — I bet it is not longer a mystery that smoking gives all sorts of negative health conditions. There have been so many misconceptions about smoking in most of parts of South Sudan. To give a better view on some of these misconceptions, the author of this article will share his personal story about this dangerous habit that is developing roots among teens and adults alike in South Sudan.

In 2000, far in the remote villages of now Gogrial state, anyone seen smoking cigarette was perceived to be a person of good socioeconomic status. This was partly because cigarretes only had to be brought from Wau and other distant towns and only few could access those towns at that time. Secondly, any man who could afford cigarettes in addition to other basic needs was revered and held high chances of winning the competition over a girl of his choice. This misunderstanding continued until when towns were brought closer to the people and there was some detachment of economic status and smoking. None of those who smoked at that time knew the negative impacts of smoking.

Inspite of so many workshops and radio shows held by several organizations and government institutions to sensitize the population about the deadly consequences of this preventable habit, smoking is now still a threat to the health of South Sudanese of different ages. A research conducted in England says 80,000 deaths occur in UK due to smoking-related ailments. It further says that one in two smokers die from smoking-related conditions.

Tobacco Atlas, an organization that publishes the grobal fact files on smoking every year has this message on their website: ‘’Tobacco harms the health, the treasury, and the spirit of South Sudan. Every year, more than 3200 of its people are killed by tobacco-caused disease. Still, more than 6000 children (10-14 years old) and 533000 adults (15+ years old) continue to use tobacco each day. Complacency in the face of the tobacco epidemic insulates the tobacco industry in South Sudan and ensures that tobacco’s death toll will grow every year. Tobacco control advocates must reach out to other communities and resources to strengthen their efforts and create change.’’

It is therefore, clear that smoking is a public health concern. It leaves harmful effects in almost all the organs of the body. When you smoke,  chemical substance called tar in your cigarettes enter your blood and make it thicker hence, increasing the chances of clot formation. It Increases your blood pressure and heart rate, making your heart work harder than normal and in the long run, narrows your arteries, reducing the amount of oxygen rich blood circulating to your organs. The end result is that one will have increased risk of conditions such as coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease (damaged blood vessels) and cerebrovascular disease (damaged arteries that supply blood to your brain).

The good thing is that after only one year of not smoking, the risk is reduced by half. After stopping for 15 years, your risk is similar to that of someone who has never smoked.

Smokers have an increased chance of getting stomach cancer or ulcers. Smoking can weaken the muscle that controls the lower end of your oesophagus and allow acid from the stomach to travel in the wrong direction back up your throat, a process known as reflux.

Smoking is also a significant risk factor for developing kidney cancer, and the more one smokes the greater the risk. For example, research has shown that if you regularly smoke 10 cigarettes a day, you are one and a half times more likely to develop renal cancer compared with a non-smoker. This is increased to twice as likely if you smoke 20 or more cigarettes a day.

Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that gets to the skin. This means that if one smokes, the skin ages more quickly and the texture changes. Smoking prematurely ages one’s skin by between 10 and 20 years, and makes it three times more likely you’ll get facial wrinkling, particularly around the eyes and mouth.

Smoking can cause bones to become weak and delicate. This condition is more serious in women as they are more likely to suffer from brittle bones, a condition known as osteoporosis, than non-smokers.

Smokers are more likely to have a stroke than someone who doesn’t smoke. In fact, smoking increases the risk of having a stroke by at least 50%, which can cause brain damage and death. And, by smoking, one doubles his/her risk of dying from a stroke. One way that smoking can increase the risk of a stroke is by increasing the chances of developing a brain aneurysm. This is a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall. This can rupture or burst which will lead to an extremely serious condition known as a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is a type of stroke, and can cause extensive brain damage and death.

Smoker’s lungs can be very fatally affected by smoking. Coughs, colds, wheezing and asthma are just the start. Smoking can cause fatal diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema and lung cancer. Smoking causes 84% of deaths from lung cancer and 83% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Smoking causes unattractive problems such as bad breath and stained teeth, and can also cause gum disease and damage your sense of taste. The most serious damage smoking causes in the mouth and throat is an increased risk of cancer in the lips, tongue, throat, voice box and gullet (oesophagus). Over 93% of oropharyngeal cancers (cancer in part of the throat) are caused by smoking.

One more condition that South Sudanese youths may not like to hear is that smoking can cause male impotence, as it damages the blood vessels that supply blood to the penis. It can also damage sperm, reduce sperm count and cause testicular cancer. Up to 120,000 men from the UK in their 20s and 30s are impotent as a direct result of smoking, and men who smoke have a lower sperm count than those who are non-smokers.

For women, smoking can reduce fertility. One study found that smokers were over three times more likely than non-smokers to have taken more than one year to conceive. The study estimated that the fertility of smoking women was 72%, 18% reduced compared to non-smokers.

Smoking also increases the risk of cervical cancer. People who smoke are less able to get rid of the Human Papilloma Virus infection from the body, which can develop into cancer. Smoking while pregnant can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and illness, and it increases the risk of cot death by at least 25%.

As a conclusion, smoking is a major public health concern in South Sudan. The good news, though. is that if you stop smoking, your health improves and your body will begin to recover.

The writer is a Final Year Medical Student at South Sudan’s premier university, the University of Juba. He is trained on Sexual and Reproductive Health by AMREF in conjunction with UNFPA. He serves as the secretary General of Kuac Youth Union in Juba and reachable on 0922284920 or through E-mail address petermakuac@gmail.com

The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made is the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël Media (PW) website. If you want to submit an opinion article, commentary or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. PaanLuel Wël Media (PW) website do reserve the right to edit or reject material before publication. Please include your full name, a short biography, email address, city and the country you are writing from.

About Post Author