(a) whether the World Health Organisation and United National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have conducted any survey in the country recently ;
(b) if so, whether they have released any report in this regard;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the reaction of the Government thereto?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE ( SMT. PANABAKA LAKSHMI)
(a): The World Health Organization and Centre for Disease Control (CDC),Atlanta, USA sponsored `India Global Youth Tobacco Survey(GYTS), 2000-04`, which has been conducted in all States in India.
(b): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and Centres for Disease Control (CDC), released the findings in a Report entitled `Tobacco Control in India, 2004` which has been widely disseminated.
(c): The major findings of the survey areas under:-
- Tobacco is used by the youth all over India with a wide range of variation among states. - Two in every ten boys and one in every ten girls use some tobacco product. - There is no statistical difference in rural-urban current tobacco use among students aged 13-15 years. - Early initiating before the age of 10 years is increasing. - States having higher levels of curricular teaching have a low prevalence of tobacco use by students.