Hospitals to tell fathers-to-be to stop smoking

City health authorities have teamed up with hospitals and health organizations to launch a project encouraging fathers and fathers-to-be to quit smoking at home.

Hospitals and neighborhood health centers will be educating them on the harm caused to pregnant women and children, Shanghai Health Commission said Thursday.

Pregnant women exposed to smoking at home can deliver babies with low birth weight and other congenital defects, while children can suffer poor lung functions and diseases such as asthma and middle ear infections.

Shanghai had planned to reduce the adult smoking rate to below 20 percent in 2022 and below 18 percent in 2030. Exposure to second-hand smoking is expected to drop to under 45 percent in 2022 and 36 percent in 2030. By 2030, exposure to second-hand smoke for children and minors is estimated to drop to under 10 percent in 2030.

The city's smoking rate was 20.2 percent in 2017 and 19.9 percent in 2018. About 37.9 percent of males and 0.8 percent of female were smokers in 2018. Exposure to second-hand smoke for non-smokers was 46.7 percent in 2018.