The anti-tobacco drive gets a new face

27-year-old oral cancer victim, Sunita Tomar, has become the face of the new union health ministry mass-media anti-tobacco campaign. Sunita hails from rural Madhya Pradesh and started consuming gutkha when she was just 22 years old. When she came to Tata Memorial Hospital, she was already in a slightly more advanced stage of mouth cancer and so she had to undergo oral cancer surgery. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, who operated on Sunita, is quick to point out that though she is currently cancer-free, her battle against cancer may not be over as oral cancer has a 50 per cent chance of recurrence.

The 30-second video advertisement in which Sunita shares her experience has been translated into 17 languages. This hard-hitting campaign aims to increase the viewer's knowledge of the health risks of tobacco use and compel them to quit. The World Lung Foundation (WLF) is providing technical assistance to the union health ministry for this campaign. Under the National Tobacco Control Program, it will be aired on all government and private TV channels as well as at cinemas and theatres for five weeks. Her story is sure to strike a chord with younger tobacco users who often believe that using tobacco products for anything less than 10 years is unlikely to result in cancer. Sunita's story is likely to affect a large number of people across our nation, but it has already had an impact on the most important person in her life her husband, who quit tobacco after witnessing his wife's ordeal.