A Study on the Impact of Health Warnings on Tobacco Products for Tobacco Cessation

Abstract

Introduction: Tobacco is a well-known etiological agent in the causation of oral cancer but at the same time, it is freely available to the general population. Although government has framed several rules and regulations including adding health warning on packages in the form of text and pictographs which are among the most direct and prominent means of communicating with smokers, still the results of tobacco cessation by these methods remain uncertain. Aim and Methodology: The aim of the study was to investigate the awareness of people toward pictographs on tobacco products. A close ended questionnaire comprising of ten questions was framed and distributed among 800 people. The results were analyzed in the form of charts and graphs. Results: About 97.5% of people actively participated in the study. Pictorial health warnings seem to be significantly more effective than text warnings. Old aged people (43%) seemed to be more aware than the young generation (18%). Conclusion: Although several warning signs including text and pictographs have been added on the tobacco products, making these signs bold and impact full and adding other methods mostly focused on youth should be added as a part of the campaign.