Exposure of Undergraduate Students to Cigarette Adverts: A Case Study of University of Abuja; Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Context Cigarette smoking has became prevalent particularly in developing countries where youths get initiated at an earlier age than in the past two decades and there is only rudimentary support for smoking cessation. Although the relationship between cigarette smoking and health hazards is well documented; the incidence of cigarette smoking continues to increase despite global and local tobacco control efforts. Aims: The study objective was to determine the level of exposure of respondents to cigarette smoking and the factors associated with it. Materials and Methods: A pre-tested; self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic features; knowledge about smoking and exposure to media for health information including exposure to tobacco adverts. Subjects were selected by multistage sampling technique. Results: One-third of the students were current smokers and most of them had poor knowledge of the consequences of smoking. All of the students were exposed to some level smoking adverts through electronic/print media. Over 90 of the students had no exposure to smoking prevention and none of the smokers were exposed to cessation interventions. One-fifth believed they were not at health risk as a result of smoking. The school had no smoking control policy. Conclusions: There was a strong; constant exposure of the youths to cigarette adverts in the media; on the streets; the school and homes. There is need to protect the youths from such excessive exposures to factors that encourage smoking and establish intervention strategies to prevent continued exposure to cigarette adverts