[17th Public Workshop / 6th Meeting of Cluster on Southern Africa] “Tobacco and Health: An Overview of Tobacco Control in Zambia” Richard Zulu(University of Zambia) (January 10, 2014)

Date: January 10, 2014, 15:00 – 17:00
Venue: #318 seminar room, Inamori Center 3F

Program

15:00 – 17:00 Richard Zulu (University of Zambia)
“Tobacco and Health: An Overview of Tobacco Control in Zambia”

Abstract

Tobacco is a major public health concern worldwide and a major leading cause of preventable deaths. Methods used are review of survey results from the 2002, 2007 and 2011 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) and a desk review. The GYTS included school grades 7, 8 and 9. The never smokers likely to initiate smoking in the next year were 22.6%. About 19.1% of the students had ever smoked cigarettes. About 22% of students reported that one or more of their parents smoke. Among some of the students who were current smokers some reported wanting a cigarette first thing in the morning, an indicator of nicotine addiction. Some students reported being offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company representative. Zambia has made tobacco use prevention a primary health issue as evidenced by the ratification of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 28th May 2008. There is need to have a comprehensive tobacco control law which is FCTC compliant. Findings presented in this paper show that there is need for interventions towards tobacco control amongst young people who represent the ages of tobacco use initiation.