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J Family Med Prim Care
J Family Med Prim Care
JFMPC
J Family Med Prim Care
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
2249-4863
2278-7135
Wolters Kluwer - Medknow India

JFMPC-13-3449
10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_333_24
Letter to Editor
Vaginal tobacco – A hidden addiction in the African continent
Kengadaran Shivashankar
Anusha Divvi
Department of Public Heath Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry, India
Address for correspondence: Dr. Divvi Anusha, Department of Public Heath Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry – 607402, India. E-mail: anushadivvi1991@gmail.com
8 2024
26 7 2024
13 8 34493449
29 2 2024
03 3 2024
07 3 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
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pmcDear Editor,

Tobacco alone is responsible for far more deaths than all other psychoactive substances combined.[1] Tobacco is usually smoked in cigarettes, cigars, chewed, or taken as snuff, even given as an enema and also as a means for providing communication with the supernatural world.[2] However, it is relatively unknown that tobacco is also used as a sexual stimulant in a few African countries. The practice of using tobacco leaves on the vagina to increase fertility and sensation during intimacy is widely followed among women in Gambia and Senegal. Yet references to “vaginal tobacco” are rare and restricted mainly to local publications.

This letter to the editor aims to raise awareness and stimulate research on vaginal tobacco about which little is known. A focus group discussion with women was organized by the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) in order to find out their familiarity with “vaginal tobacco.”[3] The outcomes of this discussion were alarming, as the majority of them confirmed that women of reproductive age in northern Nigeria burn tobacco in a native clay pot and squat on it so that the tobacco smoke will go into the vagina and aid in tightening the vagina. They also believe that placing tobacco dip in the vagina is a “miracle recipe” to increase sexual pleasure.

However, scientific evidence shows that exposure of other regions to tobacco smoke negatively impacts fertility and might also cause ectopic pregnancy.[45] Also, when tobacco is placed in the vagina for tightening, there is a greater risk of systemic absorption, which might cause damage to other body parts. There were countless cases of women admitted to the emergency department in Senegal after losing consciousness following the use of “vaginal tobacco.”[5] Hence, it is imperative for the World Health Organization to bring awareness to this new front of tobacco threats in African countries before it finds its way into other communities. Tobacco is a well-documented and unquestionable carcinogen. There is no safe exposure to this addictive substance, in whatever form it takes. At a time when tobacco control is a global priority, we argue that this deleterious habit merits more research attention.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.
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1 Ahmed S Nimonkar RA Sharma V Pardal MP Rajiva K Study of the prevalence of tobacco consumption among apparently healthy adult males in an urban area J Family Med Prim Care 2023 12 3298 303 38361906
2 Melczak M 2007 Smoke and Mirrors: A Cultural-psychological analysis of tobacco use (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University) Available from: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/918 [Last accessed on 2024 Feb 29]
3 Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance Vaginal Tobacco: A hidden health danger for women, (2022) Available from: https://ntcang.org/vaginal-tobacco-a-hidden-health-danger-for-women/ [Last accessed on 2024 Feb 29]
4 Brotman RM He X Gajer P Fadrosh D Sharma E Mongodin EF Association between cigarette smoking and the vaginal microbiota: A pilot study BMC Infect Dis 2014 14 471 25169082
5 Djamessi FK Vaginal tobacco’, a risky cocktail for West African women Available from: https://www.scidev.net/global/features/vaginal-tobacco-a-risky-cocktail-for-west-african-women/ [Last accessed on 2024 Feb 29]
