Yasmin Querishe, a presenter from Channel East, a specialist South Asian television channel in Britain, helps to launch a £750000 government drive to reduce the high level of smoking and tobacco chewing in Asian communities.
The campaign aims to make Asian people more aware of the impact tobacco can have on health risks already associated with South Asian groups, such as angina, stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure. It includes advertising in the Bangladeshi, Indian, and Pakistani press.
High rates of smoking are a particular problem among Bangladeshi men, 44% of whom smoke cigarettes compared with 27% of men in the general population. Research has also shown that chewing tobacco, popular among South Asian people, increases the risk of oral cancer as much as fivefold.
ULRIKE PREUSS