Tobacco Prevalence in Africa La Prévalence du Tabac en Afrique

Sub-Sahara Africa GYTS 2008, current use of "other tobacco products"

Currently use "other tobacco products" (13-15 years old)

28.9% RDC-Kinshasa (Boys 29.3  Girls 27.6)
28.9% RDC-Lubumbashi (Boys 29.3  Girls 27.6)
25.7% Zambia (Boys 26.7 Girls 24.8)
23.3 % Nigeria Cross River (Boys 23.9  Girls 17.5)
20.7% Sierra Leone (Boys 16.7  Girls 21.8)
19.7% Nigeria Kano (Boys 24 Girls 14.3)
17.1% Malawi (06) (Boys 17.1 Girls 17.1)
16.1% Nigeria Ibadan (Boys 13.7  Girls 18)
16.1% Burundi (Boys 17.1  Girls 14.3)
15.4% Nigeria-Abuja (Boys 19 Girls 11)
15.2% Botswana (Boys 16.3  Girls 14.3)
13.6% Liberia (Boys 14.2  Girls 11.8)
13.1% Nigeria Lagos (Boys 13.2  Girls 12.9)
10.5% Rwanda (Boys 12 Girls 8.7)
10.1% Kenya (07) (Boys 8.2 Girls 11.4)
9.5% Cameroon (Boys 11.6  Girls 7.3)
9.3% Senegal (Boys 11.7  Girls 7.7)
9% Mali (Boys 10.7  Girls 7.2)
7% Madagascar (Boys 8.5 Girls 5.8)
No data for Mauritius

Those numbers are often higher than the use of cigarettes but no details are provided about what those "other tobacco products" are.

Source: Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) - WHO-Africa

Sub-Sahara Africa 2008: currently smoke cigarettes, girls only (13-15 years old)

Currently smoke cigarettes - girls (13-15 years old)
12.5% Zambia
10.2% Madagascar
7.7% Mauritius
5.5% Nigeria Ibadan
5.2% Kenya (07)
5% Sierra Leone
4.6% Botswana
3.6% RDC-Kinshasa
3.6% RDC-Lubumbashi
3.2% Burundi
3% Cameroon
2.7% Senegal
2.5% Mali
2.2% Malawi (06)
1.8% Nigeria Lagos
1.3% Nigeria Abuja
1.2 % Nigeria Cross River
1.2% Liberia
0.9% Rwanda
0.3% Nigeria Kano

Source: Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) - WHO-Africa

Sub-Sahara Africa 2008: currently smoke cigarettes, boys only 13-15 years old

Currently smoke cigarettes: boys (13-15 years old)
33.2% Madagascar
20.3% Mauritius
17.4% Mali
14.9% Zambia
12.9% Botswana
12.1% Senegal
11.7% RDC-Kinshasa
11.7% RDC-Lubumbashi
11.4% Nigeria Kano
11.2% Kenya (07)
8.8% Cameroon
6.8% Nigeria Cross River
6.6% Sierra Leone
5.8% Burundi
5.6% Nigeria Abuja
3.8% Malawi (06)
3% Rwanda
2.8% Nigeria Lagos
2% Liberia
1.4% Nigeria Ibadan

Source: Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) - WHO-Africa

Sub-Sahara Africa 2008: currently smoke cigarettes, boys + girls, 13-15 years old

Currently smoke cigarettes
(13-15 years old, boys and girls)
19.3% Madagascar
13.7% Mauritius
13.5% Zambia
10.4% Mali
8.2% RDC-Kinshasa
8.2% RDC-Lubumbashi
8.2% Kenya (07)
8.2% Botswana
7.5% Senegal
6.2% Nigeria Kano
5.8% Sierra Leone
5.7% Cameroon
4.6% Burundi
4.1% Nigeria Cross River
3.5% Nigeria Abuja
3.5% Nigeria Ibadan
2.9% Malawi (06)
2.6% Nigeria Lagos
2.1% Liberia
1.8% Rwanda

Source: Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) - WHO-Africa

Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) au Cameroun - Région du Centre (Ages 13-15)

L'enquête "Cameroun-GYTS" réalisée en 2008 permet de disposer des données sur le tabagisme chez les jeunes.

Ce document présente les résultats saillants obtenus sur une population de 2.724 jeunes âgés de 13 à 15 ans qui ont participé à l’étude.

15.2% des élèves ont déjà fumé une cigarette
(Garçon = 21.8 %, fille = 9.2 %)
31.2% ont expérimenté la cigarette avant l’âge de 10 ans (Garçon = 27.3%, Fille = 40.2%)
5.7% sont des fumeurs actuels de cigarettes
(Garçon = 8.8 %, Fille = 3.0 %)

Pour toute information complémentaire, contacter:
Pascal AWONO,  [email protected]

Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) in Nigeria-Abuja (2008)

Prevalence
12.0% of students had ever smoked cigarettes
Boy=15.1%, Girl=8.0%
15.4% currently use any tobacco product
Boy=19.2%, Girl=11.1%
3.5% currently smoke cigarettes
Boy=5.6%, Girl=1.3%
13.9% currently use other tobacco products
Boy=16.9%, Girl=10.7%
13.4% of never smokers are likely to initiate smoking next year

Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) in Mauritius (2008)

The Mauritius GYTS was a school-based survey of students in Form II, Form III, and Form IV conducted in 2008. A total of 1,286 students aged 13-15 participated in the Mauritius GYTS. (pdf format here)

Prevalence
28.4% of students had ever smoked cigarettes
Boys = 37.7%, Girls = 19.9%
13.7% currently smoke cigarettes
Boys = 20.3%, Girls = 7.7%
11.2% of never smokers are likely to initiate smoking next year

Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) in Mali (2008)

The Mali GYTS was a school-based survey of students in grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 conducted in 2008.
A total of 2,135 13-15 year old students participated.

Prevalence
29.0% of students had ever smoked cigarettes (Male = 44.6%, Female = 10.1%)
16.6% currently use any tobacco product (Male = 23.1%, Female = 8.8%)
10.4% currently smoke cigarettes (Male = 17.4%, Female = 2.5%)
9.0% currently use other tobacco products (Male = 10.7%, Female = 7.2%)
5.6% of never smokers are likely to initiate smoking next year

For additional information, please contact: Abdoulaye Cisse
[email protected]

Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS) in Africa: where to get the results? what do they tell?

The Global Youth Tobacco Surveys that took place in African countries can be found on the WHO-Afro website: unfortunately they are only in a pdf format (for now) and in english (for what I could find). To make those figures usable on line it is necessary to transfer the content into an html format. Still if you already want to have a look it is worth a visit. One strange point seems to be the ight percentage of kids who declare using tobacco products that are not cigarettes: what are they if not cigarettes?

For additional contacts with AFRO-WHO

For more information about GYTS

Epidemiology of Tobacco Smoking in North East Nigeria

An interesting study directed by Desalu Olufemi published on the Internet Journal of Epidemiology.
More than a third of this study population smokes tobacco as cigarette or pipe. This is worrisome and is a great cause for concern because of its negative impact on the health of our population. The result from the Nigerian tobacco survey in 2002 is a gross underestimation of tobacco use. The problem of underestimation is an issue in most of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The prevalence of male smoking was 45.3% while female was 18.4% giving a ratio of 3 to1, this is similar to many other studies.