Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
Pharmacists in Rivers State have called on smoking pregnant women to desist from smoking so as to save their unborn babies.
The warning was given to pregnant women by the new Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Rivers State Chapter, Pharm AGBOMMA ESOM-IBE during an awareness campaign to mark the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ celebration in Port Harcourt.
AGBOMMA ESOM-IBE said over 60 thousand children worldwide die before five years because of smoke inhaled when their mothers were pregnant.
AGBOMMA ESOM-IBE also said that smoking can lead to lungs cancer and advised smokers to quit the act in a bid to protect their lungs.
”We are trying to enlighten the public on the effects of tobacco on the lungs which is lungs cancer and the chronic respiratory tract infections and also smoking will worsen asthma for those who have the disease. And then people who inhale second-hand smoke are even at higher risk of developing cancer before people who smoke”.
”And babies in the womb whose mothers smoke when they are pregnant will have issues with the growth and development of their lungs. And over 60 thousand children globally die below the age of five years because of the smoke inhaled when their mothers were pregnant”.
”So tobacco is huge and then cigarettes which we know is the easiest source of this contains so many toxic chemicals that are dangerous to the health. And nicotine which is the main or the biggest content of the cigarette is psychoactive because it hits the brain less than one minute. And all these substances that hit the brain affect the function of the brain because it affects how you see the environment and can also affect how you think” she said.
Our correspondent reports that the theme of 2019 World No Tobacco Day is tobacco and lung health.
