Karwar: “Effective public awareness must be created to prevent people from consuming tobacco products, especially in public places. Various government departments must coordinate with the health department to make people aware,” said Deputy Commissioner Harishkumar.

Presiding over the district-level inter-departmental coordination committee meeting of District Tobacco Control Cell at his office in Karwar recently, the DC said that tobacco products are consumed by both men and women. Of late, a number of youths were falling prey to tobacco products’ addiction. Also, women engaging in smoking had become common in bigger cities. So, the education department along with the health department must work creatively to tell students about the ill-effects of tobacco and motivate addicted students to give up tobacco. Education clubs can be formed to create awareness, especially among college students.

Monkey fever

The DC also asked all the taluk administrations to be prepared to take precautionary steps to keep Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or monkey fever at bay in the district. He instructed all the tahsildars through video conference to ensure that the health, animal husbandry and forest departments keep an action plan ready to check the spread of KFD.

District Health Officer G N Ashokkumar, DDPI K Manjunath, Social Welfare Department Deputy Director S Purushottam and others attended the meeting.