Tobacco Access and Availability for Vietnamese School Children (aged 13-15): Results from the Global Youth Tobacco Use Survey (GYTS) 2014 in Viet Nam.

Thi Kim Anh Le,Van Minh Hoang,Ngoc Khue Luong,Thi Hai Phan,Bao Giang Kim,Thi Quynh Nga Pham,Tuan Lam Nguyen,Thu Huyen Doan,Thi Tu Quyen Bui

doi:10.7314/apjcp.2016.17.s1.25

Thi Kim Anh Le, Van Minh Hoang + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.7314/apjcp.2016.17.s1.25

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Abstract

Efforts to reduce tobacco use among school children need to be based on understanding of access to cigarettes by these subjects because previous studies indicated that enforcement of laws for controlling tobacco sales seems to not affect teen/school children because they can obtain cigarettes from different sources. This paper aims to describe access to and availability of cigarettes among school students (aged 13-15 years old) according to the data from GYTS Vietnam 2014. In GYTS, a national school-based survey of students of grades 8-10, our findings showed that about 15% school children are current smokers who smoke at home, and that they could easily buy cigarettes from stores (63.2%), or someone else (27.8%), or street vendors (9%). Notably, over 85% of school children answered that they were not refused because of their age. This high percentage was nearly the same in the North (85.7%), the Centre (92.5%), and the South (89.7%) of Viet Nam. These findings show that it is quite easy for school children to obtain cigarettes and this is a crucial challenge for policy makers aiming to reduce tobacco use among youth in general and school-age students in particular.

Highlights

Tobacco use is one of the most frequent risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the world and in Vietnam with a high proportion of tobacco use among adult people, especially males (Yach et al, 2004, Ministry of Health et al, 2010)
Efforts to reduce tobacco use among school children need to be based on understanding of access to cigarettes by these subjects because previous studies indicated that enforcement of laws for controlling tobacco sales seems to not affect teen/school children because they can obtain cigarettes from different sources
In Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), a national school-based survey of students of grades 8-10, our findings showed that about 15% school children are current smokers who smoke at home, and that they could buy cigarettes from stores (63.2%), or someone else (27.8%), or street vendors (9%)

Summary

Introduction

Tobacco use is one of the most frequent risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the world and in Vietnam with a high proportion of tobacco use among adult people, especially males (Yach et al, 2004, Ministry of Health et al, 2010). Previous studies have shown that most young people who smoke buy cigarettes themselves in convenience stores or shop, kiosks, street vendors and grocery stores (Warren et al, 2000, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). They are successful at purchasing cigarettes 40% to 70% of the time, and they purchase 1 billion packs of cigarettes each year.

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