Rowaka Cancer Group - Sierra Leone

Smoking is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. About 420,000 deaths occur each year as a result of smoking cigarettes. Individuals who smoke are likely to develop peptic ulcer disease, and are more likely to develop cataracts, as opposed to non-smokers. People, who smoke, are ten times more likely to die from larynx cancer, esophagus, chronic obstructive lung disease, including emphysema. The risk becomes even higher if cigarette smoking is combined with alcohol use or with occupational exposure to certain types of toxic substances, such as asbestos. Many individuals continue to smoke knowing these dangerous conditions, because they believe that smoking has benefits like stress relief, anxiety, pleasure, or weight maintenance, thinking that quitting smoking is difficult and won’t be an easy task to accomplish. Individuals who quit smoking however have a significantly lower life expectancy than continuing smokers. When smokers can quit at a young age,...