BUJUMBURA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- As the world marked the World No Tobacco Day on Friday, a survey conducted in Burundi shows that one third of cancer cases in the country are due to tobacco consumption or cigarette smoking, a Burundian government spokesman said Friday.
A recent demography survey done in the east African country shows that 1 percent of Burundian women and girls use tobacco, and 11 percent of Burundian men consume tobacco, Jean Bosco Girukwishaka, Burundian health ministry spokesman, told Xinhua in a phone interview on Burundi's situation of tobacco consumption.
Out of the country's 18 provinces, Karusi has the highest percentage of female smokers at 6 percent, while 19 percent of men in Muyinga smoke, the highest ratio in the country.
"Those figures show that tobacco is consumed by a big number of the Burundian population. They also show that tobacco is a big threat to the health of Burundian people," he said.
Tobacco consumption can be avoided by avoiding tobacco users or by going to seek the advice of physicians, he added.
