What can we do to halt the tobacco & alcohol epidemic?

VOLUNTARY AND SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT

 IN A PUBLIC AWARENESS BUILDING EXERCISE THROUGH PRESENTATIONS

Is  smoking tobacco/ drinking alcohol really a smart idea?’

report_dhruva2

Lectures taken in Jan 2014

No Date Place Youth reached
1 4/1/14 Somaiya Medical College, Mumbai, II year 45
2 10/1/14 Indriyani College of Nursing, Pondicherry (All batches) 200
3 11/1/14 Aarupadai Veedu Medical College, Pondicherry (I year) 100
4 13/1/14 Indira Gandhi Medical College, Pondicherry (II year) 100
5 16/1/14 Rotary Club, Sion Branch, Mumbai 30

Lectures taken in Feb 2014

No Date Place Youth reached
1 4/1/14 MVJ Medical college, Bangalore (Faculty, PG students & interns) 110
2 10/1/14 Mysore Medical College,  (All UG batches) 80

 

Lectures taken in March 2014

No Date Place Youth reached
1 1/3/14 Sansthan High School, Dakor, Gujrat (IX and XI std) 110
2 7/3/14 Government Medical college, Kolhapur (Interns) 65
3 7/3/14 Government Medical college, Miraj ( Interns) 78

Lectures taken in April 2014

No Date Place Youth reached
1 9/4/14 Rotary Club, Santacruz branch, Mumbai 70
2 15/4/14 Adivasi Ashramshala, Hiradpada, Javhar, Thane(all batches) 300
3 16/4/14 Bhavan’s Vidyamandir, Calcutta (IX Std batches) 100
4 17/4/14 Nilratan Sircar Medical college, Kolkata (I & III/I batches) 150
5 17/4/14 Medical College, Calcutta (Faculty and residents of Community Medicine Dept.) 15
6 28/4/14 Shubhdeep Nursing College, Indore (I and II year) 80
7 28/4/14 Choithram Nursing College, Indore (III yr, Interns, PGs) 75
8 29/4/14 Rishiraj Dental College, Bhopal, (III yr, Interns and PGs) 125
9 29/4/14 People’s Medical and Dental college, Bhopal (open for all) 125
10 30/4/14 Mahatma Gandhi Medical college Jaipur, (II year) 100

Lectures taken in May 2014

No Date Place Youth reached
1 1/5/14 AIIMS, Delhi (Faculty and residents of Community Medicine Dept.) 25
2 6/5/15 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class X, XI, XII – on tobacco 40
3 13/5/15 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class X, XI, XII  – on alcohol 20
4 16/5/14 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class IX – on tobacco 75
5 18/5/14 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class IX – on alcohol 75
6 27/5/14 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class VII & VIII – on tobacco 100
7 29/5/14 Abhyudaya NGO for mentoring of students from poor sections of society. Class VII & VIII – on alcohol 100
8 31/5/14 Police training institute, Marol. On occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day’, organised by Amelio Medicorp & Axis Bank. 120

 

BY: Dr Dharav Shah MD (NIMHANS) DPM

Consultant Psychiatrist, Pune (MD, NIMHANS)

An Appeal by Dr Dharav Shah

During his medical training Dr. Dharav Shah witnessed the deaths, illnesses, emotional suffering and socio-economic devastation which tobacco & alcohol consumption brought to its consumers and their families. He got disturbed that though there is irrefutable scientific evidence about their hazards, their use is still increasing in India and has become an epidemic. He believes, if addictive substances are used by a few youngsters, we can blame it on their wrong choice. But if it becomes a common trend amongst them, then the blame is on the society which did not educate its youth properly. So he decided to contribute towards empowering India’s youth with adequate knowledge about the addictive poisons alcohol & tobacco – so that inspite of the advertisements and peer pressure, youngsters don’t get tempted to experiment with them.

Till date he has made more than 160 presentations on this issue in front of varied audiences including municipal & private schools, various colleges, 18 medical colleges, 10 nursing colleges, NCC cadets, NGOs, etc. He has been able to reach out to around 6500 people through these presentations. You can have a look at one of his talks on alcohol at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLPJD3-AYIE

Till sometime back, the problem of addictions was relatively less in India because consuming alcohol/ tobacco etc. was regarded to be a harmful/ stupid thing to do. However, with strong marketing efforts, the companies are succeeding in creating an impression that taking these substances is cool, relatively harmless and brings in lot of happiness. He firmly believes, that if we rebuild a strong social opinion against these addictive poisons, our youth will be adequately warned and will not fall in their trap. For that he encourages all active citizens to:

1)  Empower ourselves with facts and arguments on this issue, published by WHO and other agencies; so that we can spread awareness & remove prevalent misconceptions.

2) Recommend strongly to our near & dear ones to stay away from it.

3)  Remove alcohol from our parties & get-togethers. Giving it social acceptance sends a message to the youth that it is relatively harmless.

4)  Write to cricketers & filmstars; requesting them to not do surrogate alcohol advertisments which misleads our youth; to not disrespect the supreme court ban on alcohol advertisement.

5)  Lead by example. Be a good role model for all those youngsters who are looking up to you and deciding upon their sense of right & wrong.

            Please talk about these addictive poisons to 10 youngsters in your building/ family, and make your contribution towards halting this epidemic. If someone is interested in the facts and arguments on this issue which he has collected, you can contact him on the id dharavshah@gmail.com . Friends, lets keep in mind:

 

The evil in society is not so much because of violence of the bad;

as it is because of the silence of the good!

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply