Access to Anti-smoking Information among School Children and its Potential Impact on Preventing Smoking Initiation: Results from the Global Youth Tobacco Use Survey (GYTS) 2014 in Viet Nam

Abstract

Scientific evidence on all aspects of smoking amongst youth is very important for designing appropriate<br />interventions to reduce smoking among this vulnerable population. This paper describes current access to antismoking<br />information among school children aged 13 to 15 years in Vietnam in 2014 and examines its potential<br />impact on preventing smoking initiation. The data used in this paper were obtained from the 2014 Global Youth<br />Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in Vietnam. Students were asked questions about their level of awareness of anti-smoking<br />information from various sources in the past 30 days and about lessons in school regarding the dangers of tobacco<br />use during the last 12 months. Those who have never smoked were asked “whether or not they thought about<br />avoiding cigarettes because of health warnings on cigarette packages" and answers were analyzed in combination<br />with data on access to anti-smoking information from other sources. The prevalence of exposure to antismoking<br />campaigns was high among school children in Viet Nam: 55.3% of current smokers reported thoughts of smoking<br />cessation because of health warnings on cigarette packages; 60.5% of never smokers avoided initiating smoking<br />because of the same health warnings. The potential impact of graphic health warnings to prevent school-aged<br />children from smoking initiation would be stronger if there was concurrent access to anti-smoking programs<br />on the dangers of tobacco use in schools. However, school education for tobacco prevention and control has<br />not been as strong as expected. A more comprehensive school curriculum on tobacco prevention and control is<br />recommended to reinforce antismoking messages among school children.