Cigarette Smoking Prevalence among School-Going Adolescents in Two African Capital Cities: Kampala Uganda and Lilongwe Malawi

ABSTRACT

Background: Non communicable diseases are a growing public health concern. Globally tobacco-related deaths surpass malaria deaths and yet developing countries' data are lacking. Objectives:To compare prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco and tobacco-related issues among adolescents in Kampala; Uganda and Lilongwe; Malawi. Methods: Cross sectional data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) w used. Data were collected in 2001 in Lilongwe and in 2002 in Uganda using a standardized questionnaire tool.The study was aimed to enrolled schoolchildren aged 13-17 years. Results:The prevalence of tobacco smoking in Kampala and Lilongwe among adolescents was 5.6and 6.2(p 0.05) respectively. However; adolescents in Lilongwe were statistically significantly more likely to have ever smoked; use other tobacco products and perceived themselves as likely to initiate smoking in the coming year. Exposure to tobacco-related advertisements through billboards; newspapers and magazines was high in both settings. Conclu-sions Adolescents are increasingly being exposed to tobacco and tobacco-related advertisements in Lilongwe; Malawi and Kampala; Uganda.There is need to enhance tobac-co prevention efforts in developing nations