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Objective To understand the smoking status and related factors in middle school students from Hangzhou,Taiyuan and Guiyang cites.Methods A cross-sectional survey was adopted with 11 171 students randomly selected through a stratified cluster sampling method.A selfadministrated questionnaire survey was employed,which including the information of respondents' background characteristics,cigarette smoking,exposure to tobacco advertisement,recognition on indirect tobacco advertisement,exposure to second-hand smoke,related knowledge,attitude and perceptions towards tobacco use etc.Data was weighted by the amount of male and female students in junior high,senior high and vocational middle schools in the above said three cities and was analyzed by complex sampling analysis methods of SPSS 15.0.Confidence Intervals of each indicator were used to evaluate for difference between groups.Logistic regression was used to explore the potential factors associated with smoking in youths.Results The overall attempted smoking rate of the three cities was 26.2％ (95％ CI:23.6-29.1 ),with male as 39.9％ and female 12.5％ respectively.The current smoking rate was 12.5％ (95％CI:11.1-14.2 ) with boys as 21.9％ and girls as 3.2％.The smoking rate were different among three kinds of schools,with vocational school was the highest (25.8％),followed by senior high (7.9％) and junior high (6.3％).The rate of smoking was different among cities,lower with better economic situation.The average age of debut was 11.9 years old.Nearly half of the students who smoked had no intention to quit.Factors that associated with smoking would include:having or wishing to have tobacco promotion products,having friends or families who smoke,their friends' attitude towards smoking behavior,and misconceptions about smoking such as underestimate the harm of smoking and the difficulty of quitting,realizing that smoking was an important way for social contact,and to be seen as being matured etc.Conclusion Boys are much more likely than girls to smoke cigarette.Smoking prevalence is much higher in low-income cities.Additianally,it should be concerned that girls has higher smoking rate than female adults.It is urgent for tobacco control among adolescents,especially in low-income area in China.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand the types of, reasons for and sources of stigma and discrimination in a rural community where the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) are former plasma donors (FPDs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty local residents, including 20 HIV-positive villagers, 20 family members, 20 villagers from non-HIV-positive households and 20 health workers, were selected as study subjects by using purposive sampling method in rural areas of Anhui Province. Face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions were held to collect information on HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and its contributing factors.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 80 study subjects, 1 didn't finish the survey. Of the 79 subjects who finished the survey, the main forms of stigma and discrimination were expanded stigma [81.0% (64/79)], abandonment and avoidance, stigma and discrimination in healthcare setting [47.4% (28/59)], loss of social support [33.3% (13/39)]. The level of stigma was less in village where were more HIV-positive villagers living and vice versa. The reasons for stigma and discrimination included: ignorance or misunderstanding of HIV/AIDS [57.5% (23/40)], fear of HIV/AIDS [32.5% (13/40)] and morality judgment toward PLHA. The majority of HIV positive participants were unwilling to disclose their positive status to others in order to protect their family members and children.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ignorance and misunderstanding of HIV/AIDS were main contributing factors to HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and it is very important to implement appropriate intervention programs to reduce stigma and discrimination.</p>
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Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Young Adult , Blood Donors , HIV Infections , Prejudice , Rural PopulationABSTRACT
Objective To know the situation of tobacco advertisement, promotions and related factors in six cities in China. Methods 4815 adults (above 18 years), selected form Beijing, Shanghai,Shenyang, Changsha, Guangzhou and Yinchuan through probability proportionate sampling and simple random sampling, were investigated through questionnaires. Results The most commonly reported channels that smokers noticed tobacco advertisements were billboards (35.6%) and television (34.4%).The most commonly reported tobacco promotional activities that were noticed by smokers were flee gills when buying cigarettes (23.1% ) and free samples of cigarettes (13.9%). Smokers in Changsha were more likely to report noticing tobacco advertisement on billboards (X2=562.474, P<0.001), and on television(X2=265.570, P<0.001 ). Smokers in Claangsha (X2=58.314, P<0.001 ) were more likely to notice tobacco related news and games. A logistic regression analysis showed that the living and education level were related to awareness of tobacco advertisement and promotion. Conclusion It was universal to see tobacco advertisement and promotions in cities in China but the laws and regulations about tobacco-control were not uniformly executed in different cities. It is necessary to perfect and uniform related laws and regulations.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the current smoking regulations and their impacts on the environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) levels inside restaurants and bars in Beijing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Telephone survey was used to investigate the smoking regulations. TSI Sidepak AM510 was used to measure the level of fine particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) in restaurants and bars. Analysis of variance and non-parametric rank tests were used to examine the association between indoor and outdoor PM2.5 levels and (1) smoking regulations; and (2) types of restaurants and bars.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 305 restaurants and bars surveyed, 27.9% had complete or partial smoking prohibiting rules. The average indoor PM2.5, level of the 92 restaurants and bars was 253.08 microg/m3 , 102.37% higher than the outdoor level. The average indoor and outdoor PM2.5 levels in the restaurants and bars with smoking ban regulations were 93.10 microg/m3 and 110.33 microg/m3 whole 289.34 microg/m3 and 128.40 microg/m3 in those without, respectively. The average indoor and outdoor PM2.5 levels of bars were 413.46 microg/m3 and 190.62 microg/m3, respectively, while in the western fast-food restaurants, they were 83.86 microg/m3 and 104.77 microg/m3, respectively. The outdoor PM2.5 levels were higher than the indoor levels in different classes of restaurants and bars. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between PM2.5 levels and the number of smokers per cube meters (r = 0.47, P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Smoking regulations could effectively reduce the ETS level in restaurants and bars.</p>