| dc.description.abstract | In Zanzibar, minimal information is available on tobacco use and its risk factors among Secondary school students that have made it difficult to establish effective control intervention in the country. Therefore, cross-sectional study was conducted among secondary school students in Urban District of Zanzibar. This was done with the hope that the study findings would reveal the actual prevalence of tobacco use and factors influencing/exposing adolescents to use this harmful product.
A total of 305 Secondary School students were randomly selected from seven Urban Schools and interviewed to determine the proportion of tobacco use, types of tobacco products used, initial age of tobacco use and socio-economic factors exposing them to use tobacco product.
The results show that, the overall prevalence of tobacco product use among Secondary school students was 29(9.51%). Among the male respondents, more than three quarter had used a tobacco product, whereby on average 4.59 times higher (15.72%) than the female counterparts (3.42%). Majority of students (5.9%) could not recall the last time they used a tobacco product, 2.3% of respondents had used a tobacco product one year ago, while one percent had used a tobacco product within one week and one month before the study. This forms the current users of tobacco product to be 2.9%.
The most popular brand of tobacco products used by the respondents were cigarette (8.5%), followed by kuberi (1.3%) and Tulsi that was found to be the least used product among others. Of those reported smoking cigarettes (58.6%) they had not smoked 30days prior study, 3.4% had smoked 2-5 cigarette per day while 37.9% not sure how many cigarette they smoke. Of those who reported ever using tobacco product, 44.4% they used it because they wish to have an experience of smoking.
In addition the study findings using the logistic regression model revealed that, the use of tobacco among secondary student in this study associated with several factors. Ever use of tobacco product was highly significantly associated with male sex. The results indicate that the odds of male using tobacco product were 4.5 times the odds of female that use tobacco product (OR 4.59, 95% CI; 1.55-13.57).
The use of tobacco was found to have statistical significance with increase in the age among secondary student. The results indicate that the odds of 18 years or older using tobacco product were 0.71 times higher of students who were 13 year of age (OR 0.71; 95% C.I; 0.5–1.01). Being African origin, become an important variable for tobacco use among secondary students. The odds of African origin who use tobacco product were 0.13 times of Indians (OR 0.13; 95% C.I; 0.04–0.38). Ever use tobacco product among students has statistical association with friendship. The odds of ever use tobacco with the influence of close friends were 0.21 times the odds of not having close friends (OR 0.21; 95% CI; 0.08–0.52).
In conclusion, the study findings shade light on the fact that tobacco-related product use is becoming more popular among adolescents in Zanzibar. Thus, this study inculcates participation of adolescents in the planning and implementation health education programs against tobacco-related product usage at an early age to promptly prevent its adoption and use. This program will not only increase their knowledge about the importance of preventing tobacco-related product use but also mitigate its long term effects like lung cancer and increase risk to the development of tuberculosis in Zanzibar. In addition strict guidelines on tobacco-related product use should be reinforced by the Ministry of Health Zanzibar and other stakeholders by monitoring of the enforcement of the ban on tobacco usage so as to ensure that the importation and distribution of the tobacco products into Zanzibar is minimised. | en_US |
