Explores the many special issues that surround the impact of tobacco use on the health and well-being of women. Noting that most tobacco control programmes fail to address the distinct needs of women, the book concentrates on the identification of gender-specific factors that help explain why girls and women smoke and how tobacco damages their health. The book, which uses data from a wide range of sources, makes a special effort to cover all dimensions of the problem, ranging from conditions in developing countries that deter female smoking to the reasons why women may find it more difficult to quit than men. The impact of the tobacco industry's efforts to recruit female smokers is also considered. The book has six chapters. The first provides a brief introduction to the magnitude of the problem caused by women's use of tobacco. The second chapter gives detailed country-specific statistics revealing changing trends in female tobacco use and related morbidity and mortality. The third chapter explains how the constituents of tobacco produce dependence and damage health. Data linking female smoking to a greatly increased risk of eight forms of cancer and six other major diseases soundly refute the myth that women are somehow immune to the adverse effects of tobacco. Additional effects on reproductive health, on physical appearance, and on the health of children exposed to sidestream smoke further underscore the heavy toll of female smoking. The question of why women start and continue to smoke is explored in the fourth chapter, which reveals the importance of gender difference in the physiology and social psychology of smoking. Details range from the impact of tobacco products and advertising targeted at women, through the need to address the fear of weight gain when helping women stop smoking, to the observation that, unlike men, women use tobacco to cope with negative feelings, especially in low-income households. Drawing upon these and many other findings, the remaining chapters describe the actions that need to be taken, by governments, policy-makers, health professionals, and women's groups, to protect girls and women from starting to smoke and to plan cessation programmes specifically designed to reach and influence women.

DC.HQ

chi eng fre rus spa.

ita jpn.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

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