Union Health Minister Shri Mansukh Mandaviya presided over the release of Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4), India, 2019 National Fact Sheet.

Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare presided over the release of National Fact Sheet Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4), India, 2019. The Union Health Minister emphasized the role of teachers as most crucial in creating awareness among children and their parents about harm due to tobacco use and for shaping the attitude of children in this regard. The fourth round of Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4) was conducted in 2019 by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The survey was designed to produce national estimates of tobacco use among school going children aged 13-15 years at the state level and Union Territory (UT) by sex, location of school (rural-urban), and management of school (public-private). The first three rounds of GYTS were conducted in 2003, 2006 and 2009. Nearly one-fifth of the students aged 13-15 used any form of the tobacco product (smoking, smokeless, and any other form) in their life. However, the current use (during last 30 days) was 8.5%. Between the last two surveys, the current use declined by 42% (2009-2019). Prevalence of tobacco use among boys was 9.6% and among girls was 7.4%. The prevalence of smoking tobacco was 7.3%. In case of smokeless tobacco product, the prevalence was4.1%. Ever use of e-cigarette among the studentswas 2.8%. The current use of tobacco among students across the States/UTs ranged from the highest in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (58% each) to the lowest in Himachal Pradesh (1.1%) and Karnataka (1.2%).