Tobacco Use in Rural Areas of North India (with Special Reference to Ghaziabad District) Rohini Ruhil Tobacco Cessation Expert, YES Healthcare Clinic, Chaudhary Market, Railway Road, Muradnagar, Dist. Ghaziabad, UP ABSTRACT Background – According to GATS India 2009-10, the percentage of current tobacco users in rural areas was 38 percent as compared to 25 percent in urban areas of India. Percentage of current tobacco users in U�ar Pradesh was 34% which was almost similar to national average of 34.6 percent. Objectives – To study the prevalence and determinants of tobacco use in rural areas of Ghaziabad district. Methods – It was a descriptive research design. The sampling design adopted was Multistage random sampling. Various stages were selection of blocks, villages, households and individuals. Sample size was calculated to be about 200 individuals. Tools of data collection was semistructured questionnaire that was used in the form of schedule. Data analysis was done using SPSS and MS Excel. Results – The prevalence of tobacco use in rural areas of Ghaziabad district was found to be about 44 percent. Bidi was most frequently used tobacco product (49%), followed by Khaini (20%) and Hukka (16%). The tobacco use was found to be varied with sex of individual, educational level and awareness level of individual. According to study 90 percent of tobacco users were willing to quit and 24 percent made a quit a�empt in the past one year and 59 percent of current tobacco users received some kind of help for qui�ing. Conclusion – A large proportion of rural people in villages of Ghaziabad district used tobacco (specially Bidi, Khaini and Hukka). The tobacco use was low among people with higher educational level and high awareness level. Majority of current tobacco users wanted to quit but small proportion of current tobacco users really made a quit a�empt and few of them received any kind of help for qui�ing, mainly from family. Keywords: Tobacco use, rural, North India, Ghaziabad, Quit a�empt INTRODUCTION OR BACKGROUND Rural people are the disadvantaged group which does not have access to health facilities. At the irst point, doctors are not available in the rural areas; then also the rural people do not have money to go to doctors. Therefore it is very important to provide primary care to rural people which include prevention of development of diseases. There are many risk factors that lead to poor health of people. Tobacco use among rural people is one of them. Generally we see the village people smoking Hukkas and other tobacco products at Gram Choupal. Tobaccco use is very harmful. Smoking signiicantly contributes to chronic Non Communicable Diseases; mainly heart disease, stroke, cancer (lung, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx and oesophagus) and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). [1][2] Smoking also increases the incidence of clinical tuberculosis. [3] The World Health Organization's (WHO) report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic in 2008 highlighted that approximately 5.4 million deaths every year are related to tobacco use. [4] Tobacco is a risk factor for leading causes of death in the world. [4] The total projected annual number of deaths in India, a�ributable to tobacco use, was one million in the 2010. [5] Among both the males and females, the prevalence of tobacco use was higher in rural than urban areas. More than half of rural males (52%) and 24 percent of rural females used tobacco compared with 38% of urban males and 12 percent of urban females. [6] The percentage of current users of smokeless tobacco was higher Corresponding Author : Dr Rohini Ruhil Tobacco Cessation Expert, YES Healthcare Clinic, House of Chaudhary Surendar Pal Singh, Chaudhary Market, Railway Road, Defence Colony, Muradnagar, Dist. Ghaziabad, UP – 201206. E mail- drrohiniruhil@gmail.com D.O.I. Number: 10.5958/2320-5962.2015.00014.5