Search

Kenya became a party to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004; three years later, the country enacted the Tobacco Control Act. The FCTC [...]

The authors talk about the argument by Professor Ilona Kickbusch and colleagues that the Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) enabled researchers to systemize efforts to confront the commercial drivers of disease and inequalities. They discuss the broader CDoH system, the collaboration, activity, and global focus on the CDoH, and the future for the CDoH field.

The ongoing public health crisis of substance use among school adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in South Africa is not new in research parlance, amidst the national policy of drug abuse management in schools. In view of no tangible progress to reduce substance use in high schools in the country, we conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study aimed at investigating substance use among adolescents and young adults in the four public high schools selected through multi-stage sampling in rural Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Data on substance use, demographics, household socio-demographics, and related factors were collected via a validated self-administered questionnaire. Hierarchical logistic regression was performed using STATA 18. The study included 402 AYAs aged between 14 and 23 years (18 ± 1 years), and 45% reported substance use in the last twelve months. Alcohol was the most used substance (74%), followed by cigarettes (12%) and cannabis (11%). AYAs used substances out of social influence, curiosity, to find joy, and to eliminate stress, especially in social events, on the streets, and at home, and reported negative physical health outcomes, mainly hallucinations, sleeping disorders, body weakness, and dry mouths. Hierarchical logistic regression showed that the likelihood of substance use was three times in a particular high school (S4) (AOR = 3.93, 95%CI: 1.72–8.99), twice among the grade 12s (AOR = 2.73, 95%CI: 1.46–5.11), over twenty times in the communities with substance availability (AOR = 22.45, 95%CI: 2.75–183.56), almost ten times among AYAs participating in recreational/sports activities (AOR = 9.74, 95%CI: 4.21–22.52), and twice likely to happen in larger households (AOR = 2.96, 95%CI: 1.57–5.58). Prevention and intervention efforts should consider these specific health concerns to develop targeted strategies for mitigating substance use and its adverse consequences in this vulnerable population towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.5, which aims to strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and the harmful use of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study assessed the influence of exposure to pro-tobacco advertisements on experimentation with emerging tobacco products among U.S. adolescents aged =9 years, in Grades 6 to 12. Method: Data were obtained from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was used to measure the association between experimentation with snus and e-cigarettes and exposure to pro-tobacco advertisements from three sources: over the Internet, in newspapers/magazines, and at retail stores. Results: After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and current use of other tobacco products, the odds of experimenting with snus were 1.36 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.88-3.16), 2.03 (95% CI = 1.30-3.17), and 3.24 (95% CI = 2.07-5.07), among students exposed to one, two, or all three types of pro-tobacco advertisements, respectively, compared with those exposed to none. Similar results were obtained for e-cigarettes. Conclusion: Stronger restrictions on tobacco advertisements, in concert with increased tobacco taxes and warning about the dangers of tobacco, use may help reduce youth tobacco use.

Objectives: To determine factors associated with dual use of tobacco products in a population of black South African adolescents. Methods: Data were obtained from a self-administered questionnaire completed by a representative sample of grade 8 students from 21 randomly selected secondary state schools in the Limpopo Province, South Africa (n = 1878). Results: Of the respondents, 11.4% used smokeless tobacco (SLT), and 55.2% of SLT users also smoked cigarettes (dual users). Dual users were more likely to be vulnerable to depression, engage in binge drinking, smoke cannabis, and attend schools without rules against smoking. Conclusion: Dual tobacco use forms part of multiple-risk-taking behavior.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that smoking kills more than 8 million people every year. While the WHO African Region has the lowest smoking prevalence of all WHO regions [...]

Author(s): Goedele M. C. Louwagie[sup.1] , Olalekan A. Ayo-Yusuf[sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X [...], This study examines predictors of smoking cessation in tuberculosis patients with high HIV co-infection rates in a South African primary care setting. Current smokers were randomly allocated to brief motivational interviewing (n = 205) or receipt of a brief message (n = 204). Multi-level logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of sustained 3- and 6-month abstinence and 7-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) at 1 month, with the facility as a random effect. The intervention was ineffective among smokers with high nicotine-dependence at 1 month, but was effective for all smokers over longer periods. Higher baseline self-efficacy predicted the 1-month 7-day PPA, but not sustained abstinence. HIV-positive participants' odds of sustained abstinence were about three times higher than those of their HIV-negative counterparts. Results support a more intensive motivational intervention and/or coping skills' training to increase self-efficacy and abstinence rates. Tobacco cessation services can be introduced in tuberculosis services where high HIV co-infection rates occur.