ABSTRACT
The readymade garment (RMG) industry is a key sector of Bangladesh economy. This sector brings in about 78% of the country’s total merchandize export earnings. More than 3.2 million people are working in this sector and mostly females from underprivileged social classes.Employment in this Ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh provides workers with economic benefits and some empowerment. A descriptive cross-sectional study followed by a qualitative approach was utilized. Through proportionate quota sampling, 560 garments workers were recruited from 6(one large, two medium, and three small) garment factories in Mirpur area of Dhaka city.Almost all of the garments workers knew that both smoking and smokeless tobacco (98.4%) is harmful for health. Knowledge on specific health hazards of smoking (96.96%) tobacco was relatively higher than those of smokeless (90%) tobacco. Electronic media (Radio/TV/Cinema) was themost common source of their knowledge (92.9%). In case of smoking tobacco, cancer (63.6%) was the mostly reported disease caused by smoking tobacco, followed by lung cancer (15.7%) and heart attack (11.3%). On the other hand, for smokeless tobacco, cancer (29.8%), followed by oral cancer (26.6%) and lung cancer (15.0%) was mostly reported diseases by the garments workers. Garment workers’ knowledge on tobacco control policy was found to be very low. Only 35.0% knew about the policy. Although few garments workers know about the rules for prohibition of tobacco product in public place (25.7%) and public transport (11.3%), other specific rules under tobacco control policy were not known to majority of them. The present study provides a scientific base regarding current tobacco using practice among garments workers in Dhaka city and their knowledge and attitude towards tobacco. Finding revealed from qualitative analysis of data suggested that now-a-days smoking is considered as a trend; people have to smoke for showing smartness or to maintain social status. Peer influence also plays an important role for initiating and maintaining smoking status. Socio-cultural influence for smokeless tobacco consumption was not well documented by this study which indicated a need for more focused qualitative study.