New South African Medical Association Joins Forces With World
Medical Association In Combating The Smoking Habit
The new South African Medical Association has embarked on a joint
initiative with the World Medical Association (WMA) to combat the
smoking habit as a major health threat to the world.
This has been announced at the conclusion of the first national
council meeting of the newly established South African Medical Association
in Pretoria.
Elaborating on their project plans, Dr Edoo Barker vice-chairman
of the South African Medical Association, said the first step
was to host a consensus meeting of health professionals from Southern
Africa before the end of the year.
The main agenda for this meeting would be to agree on action
plans and to review the appropriateness of a draft regional guideline
as a training and practice standard.
Dr Barker said that significant work had been done by the Medical
Association, in partnership with the Department of Health, the
Tobacco Action Group and the Medical Research Council, but for
the project to succeed we need to develop a regional consensus
guideline.
Dr Anders Milton, chairman of the World Medical Association said
that the WMA had learnt about the commitment and excellent work
being done by the Ministry and the health care professions in
South Africa. Consequently the WMA had decided to support and
facilitate these efforts.
We should build on the South African experience to combat tobacco
use in Africa. The WMA is establishing resource centres to provide
doctors and healthcare workers with the necessary information
and training to educate their patients on the dangers of tobacco
products. South Africa seems to be the ideal base for such regional
networking.
"Tobacco is a killer. The smoking habit is one of the major
causes of morbidity and mortality estimated to kill as many as
4 million people this year, and 10 million people by the year
2030. Doctors should take the lead in combating tobacco,"
Dr Milton concluded.
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