ISLAMABAD: In the midst of the celebrations marking achievements and progress on the Women’s Day, the cost of smoking that women had to pay remained unreported on national level.

During an event organized here on Monday here at federal capital, health experts regretted that one of the issues that remained unreported is the actual cost of smoking that women had to pay.

Referring to the study by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), experts said: “The share of morbidity and mortality costs for women is underestimated because of their lower rates of labor force participation and difficulties in putting monitory value on their informal contribution to household production.”

They said that the part of the problem is cheap price of cigarettes and civil society and health experts have underlined the need for increase in FED on cigarettes.

Dr Hassan Shehzad, from IIUI, said that in rural areas, both poverty and smoking levels are higher than urban areas, which is surprising.

He stated that the problem is that prices of cigarettes are the cheapest in Pakistan as multinational companies reportedly influence the governments to facilitate their business.

“This is a business of loss for the country,” he said.

Highlighting this phenomenon, The PIDE report mentions, “Overall, the mortality cost for males is Rs 259 billion ($1.62 billion), which is 92 percent of the total. The total costs attributable to all smoking-related diseases and deaths in Pakistan for 2019 are Rs 615.07 billion ($3.85 billion).”

There is a need for 26 percent FED increase on cigarettes to bear the health burden and make for the revenue shortfall that smoking has created, they added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024