By Nasratu Kargbo
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Public Health, Dr. Alie H. Wurie says the use of tobacco nicotine and its other chemicals can lead to male erectile dysfunction.
Speaking in Freetown during an engagement held by Focus 1000 on the hazards of tobacco and nicotine, Wurie explained that a man’s genital organs might not be able to function well, affecting sexual performance.
He added that sperm production and mobility can also be affected, slowing down its movement as it swims to meet the eggs to fertilize. Sperm may also get deformed and could lead to men becoming impotent.
On how tobacco and nicotine can affect a woman’s reproductive organs; the doctor explained that the ovaries might get affected and could lead to infertility problems.
Women who smoke risk getting cervical cancer, early menopause and menstrual disorder. When women smoke and use oral contraceptives, they are exposed to getting stroke, heart attack and other vascular complications.
“It spares no part, nobody, no gender” said Wurie. He spoke about the other ill effects of tobacco, nicotine and their other contents are very harmful to every part of the body. Naming the different parts of the body that could be affected as a result of these substances, Wurie explained that a smoker could get cataract in the eye, cancer of the tongue, throat, lungs, pancreas, and chronic ulcer amongst many other parts that can get affected.
The doctor noted that just like smokers, adults second-hand smokers are exposed to different illnesses such as heart disease, lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, breast cancer, stroke amongst many others, whilst children second-hand smokers risk getting fetal growth impairment, asthma exacerbation and middle ear disease .
Wurie explained that chemicals in tobacco cause clots to form in blood vessels leading to vital parts of the brain, causing damage to the blood vessels and leading to rupture and brain bleeding.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer explained that most of the young people are into the habit of smoking saying: “No wonder we are having a low life expectancy, more young men and women are dying. If we do not control it, it will still go down”. He therefore called for massive sensitization and that the law be enforced.
Quality Control Officer for World Health Organization Framework Control Tobacco Control (FCTC) explained that smoking affects not only the individual involved in the act, but the country as a whole, noting that it has a great impact on the country’s GDP.
He explained that country loses over four hundred billion each year due to the non- implementation of tobacco control laws.
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