Smoking is a healthcare problem that has been on the rise in the recent past among all levels of the population in the world at large. There has been a rising need to control the social problem which has had severe implications on both smokers and non-smokers. The only mode of the predicament can be resolved by fully understanding the causes of smoking and its implications of the people (Gately, 2002). With regards to the social context of smoking, several circumstances form the environment in which smoking prevails or fails and makes it meaningful for the various groups affected by this condition. Some of these events include access to tobacco, advertising, prevalence and visibility of smoking. These circumstances are a significant deal and have had so much attention focused on it in the recent years. Coming to the adolescents, the greatest social context of their smoking habits are family, peer social networks, school, workplace, neighborhood, policy, social acceptability, and media topping the list of these social contexts. We should be bothered by the social context of smoking because not fully understanding and accounting for socio-partial discrepancies in smoking is hindering tobacco management efforts.
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Frankly, I think the key factor that I would recommend in order to help address the issue is increasing community awareness. Creating awareness of the disparities of this health problem could significantly reduce smoking by a high percentage, especially among those groups who do not go to school. Another recommendation would be setting priorities among the disparities to be addressed. This involves knowing what measures are to be taken at the various levels of the community. Another recommendation would be aiming at faster improvement among vulnerable groups by allotting resources in accordance with need. Lastly, I would recommend a dedication to filling the gaps in health, quality of life, and longevity. These gaps cold be fixed majorly through the creation of working places and ensuring equality in the distribution of resources. Once these gaps will be filled, the problem will come to the end.
One of the health disparities related to this condition is that those individuals with household revenues below or close to the federal deficiency point had higher pervasiveness of smoking than those whose returns were higher than the national scarcity level. Another disparity was also that smoking reduces with greater attainment of higher levels of education. The fact that individuals with no jobs had higher susceptibility to smoking than the working class is also a disparity with smoking. Also, men smoke mostly than women. It is a disparity with the smoking health condition. Another disparity would also be that smoking rates reduced beyond the age 18 years.
Historically, tobacco dates back to 18000 years ago when humans came across it (Dedobbeleer et al., 2001). It was able to spread because of migration of the Arabic and other communities. Need for colonization of countries by various colonialists also led to the spread of tobacco, especially to the African countries. There are 64 species of tobacco, but only two species are smoked. Christianity rebuked smoking despite its everyday spread over the nations. Tobacco got its boost in Europe because of its medicinal properties.
The populations majorly affected by the smoking problem include the youth. This category ranges from the ages 14 to 25. Most of the youths like to indulge in smoking because of peer influence. They always want to fit in a certain group of people. Others do it because they have a notion of wanting to be like somebody. Others do it out of being idle. Through parental influence media and other factors in the environment also contribute to the indulgence of the youth in smoking. Others even do it out of curiosity. Another group is the low income earning group. The uneducated or even those with low levels of education also smoke. Most members of this group are ignorant of the health effects of this condition. Others do it due to their idle nature and others do it because of the influence. Another group is those individuals who believe that smoking has some health benefits to the body.
Several policies have come up to control smoking. Most of these policies are ones restricting smokers from smoking in any places. Examples of the policies are that there should be no smoking in places of employment, food service establishments, and enclosed areas meant for public access (Jacobson, 2001). Any public centers for child care, youth centers and facilities for detention do not have smoking zones. A policy for the establishment of a smoking area has also been developed to control smoking. The current smoking policies include restriction of smoking areas. It also involves advertising its negative impacts in the media and placing posters and signs against the vice.
Despite the fact that smoking is legal, individuals need to consider the health negative effects that smoking has on the body. According to Rabinoff (2006), no matter how much one argues that smoking has got some benefits to the body, it is not as the benefits cannot be achieved in another way. Therefore, I strongly detest the fact that smoking is legal since many people indulge in smoking because of its legality.
In summary, smoking is a serious health care issue and needs to be addressed with considerable concern. This condition is not only affecting smokers but non –smokers too. Having given recommendations for the eradication of the problem, I believe that sticking to them with total concern will be of significant impact on the issue. The government should also come in the campaign against smoking and not let the non-governmental organizations do it alone.
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