Migration and Tobacco: Explosive Epidemic in making? A Qualitative Narration on Ethnography of Tobacco use among Construction Workers in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Migration has impact upon individuals physical, mental and social wellbeing and is acknowledged as a social determinant of health by increasing the health risks and vulnerabilities. Smokeless tobacco in the forms of khaini, gutkha, paan masala is commonly consumed by low-income earning, interstate migrants employed in construction work in Chennai. In exploring the role of migration and its determinants in consumption of tobacco especially smokeless forms, this qualitative study brings to the forefront the complex interplay of socio-cultural-economic factors and disrupted traditional and familial social support systems shaping the high burden of tobacco consumption among these vulnerable populations. The cultural acceptance of smokeless tobacco use in the form of chewing and tobacco quids unlike smoking, bringing local produce from native states to migrating cities thus circumventing local bans on sales of smokeless tobacco, the peer influence on uptake of tobacco consumption after arriving as migrant in the destination city, initiating consumption of low quantities to overcome the physical exertion and mental relief are influencing factors for uptake of smokeless tobacco use.