Tobacco Prevalence in Africa La Prévalence du Tabac en Afrique

Agregating GYTS 2008 results (work in process)

Presently the results of the GYTS surveys in African countries are only presented separately in a pdf format on the site of WHO-Africa. Combining the findings provides a more global picture and raises new questions. This is still a work in progress.

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.

Highest and lowest tobacco use prevalence for males (adolescents and adults) in Africa

Highest and lowest tobacco use prevalence for males (adolescents and adults) in Africa
According to the numbers provided by WHOSIS

Adolescents - Males                  Adults - Males    

1. Mali: 42.6% (+23.1)  (2001)     1. Namibia:   38.6%
2. Mauritania: 31.5% (+9.2)         2. Mauritius  35.7%
3. South Africa: 29%  (+1.5)         3. Seychelles: 35.2%
4. Namibia: 28.6% (-10)               4. Algeria:  29.9%
5. Seychelles: 27.1% (-8.1)           5. Gambia    29.3%
6. Congo: 26.1% (+14)                 6. Cameroon  27.7%
7. Zambia: 25.7%  (+4)                7. Comoros    27.7%
8. Algeria; 25.5% (-4.4%)             8. South Africa  27.5% 
9. Nigeria: 22.6%  (+9.6)             9. Kenya         27.1%
10. Lesotho: 22.4%                    10. Zimbabwe   25.5%
11. Comoros: 21.8% (-5.9%)       11. Tanzania     24.8% 
12. Cote d'Ivoire: 21.7% (+6.3)   12. Malawi        23.7%   
13. Senegal: 20.4% (+0.6)          13. Sao Tome    23.2%
14. Burkina: 19.9% (-2.1)           14. Mauritania  22.3%
15. Malawi: 19.1%  (-4.6)           15. Burkina      22%
16. Togo: 17.7%                        16. Mozambique  22%
17. Uganda: 17.3% (-3.6)            17. Zambia       21.7%
18. Niger: 15.2%                         18. Uganda      20.9%
19. Kenya: 14.9%  (-12.2)            19. Senegal      19.8%
20. Swaziland: 14.7% (+0.1)         20. Mali           19.5%
21. Benin: 14.6% (2003)               21. Eritrea      16.9%
22. Zimbabwe: 12.7% (-12.8)        22. Chad        16%
23. Cameroon: 12.6% (-15.1)        23. Cote d'ivoire 15.4%
24. Botswana: 12.3% (2003)         24. Swaziland     14.6%
25. Ghana: 11.6% (+1.4)              25. RDC              13.5%
26. Ethiopia: 9.9% (+2.3)             26. Nigeria          13%
27. Mozambique: 9.1% (-12.9)      27. Congo           12.1%
28. Tanzania: 8.7% (-16.1)           28. Ghana           10.2%
29. Eritrea: 7.8% (-9.1)               29. Ethiopia            7.6%

No data for adolescents from Mauritius, Chad, RDC, Gambia, Sao Tome.
No data for adults from Benin, Botswana, Lesotho, Niger, Togo.       

Highest and lowest prevalence in tobacco use for females (adolescents and adults) in Africa

Prevalence in tobacco use for females in Africa according to WHOSIS (many countries are absent).
One can already notice some worrying trends for adolescent smoking

The (+) number in the Adolescents column indicates the difference between the adolescent/adult prevalences: how much more the youth are smoking.

Adolescent (females)                Adults (females)   

1. Mauritania: 29.5% (+25.8)        1. Cameroon: 13.5%   
2. Zambia: 25.6%  (+20)               2. Comoros: 13.5%
3. Seychelles: 25.3% (+18.3)         3. Burkina: 11.2%
4. Namibia: 22.9% (+12)               4. Namibia: 10.9%
5. Congo: 21.9% (+20.9)               5. Sao Tome: 10.6%
6. South Africa: 20%  (+11)           6. South Africa: 9.1%
7. Malawi: 17.9%  (+10)                7. Seychelles: 7%
8. Lesotho: 17.7% (2002)              8. Malawi: 6.2%
9. Uganda: 15.3% (+12.1)             9. Zambia: 5%
10. Comoros: 14.8% (+1.3)       10. Zimbabwe; 4,4%
11. Kenya: 14.5%  (+12)            11. Tanzania: 4.3%
12. Nigeria: 11.2%  (+10)          12. Mauritania: 3.7%
13. Ghana: 10.9%  (+10)            13. Mozambique: 3.4% 
14. Botswana: 10.5%%  (2001)     14. Uganda: 3.2%
15. Cote d'Ivoire: 10.3% (+7.9)    15. Swaziland: 3.2%
16. Senegal: 9.6%  (+8)               16. Gambia: 2.9%
17. Swaziland: 9% (+5.8)             17. Mali: 2.8%
18. Niger: 8%                              18. Chad: 2.6%               
19. Togo: 7.9%                            19. RDC: 2.6%
20. Mali: 7.4% (+4.6) (2001)         20. Cote d'Ivoire: 2.4%
21. Zimbabwe; 7.3% (+2.9)          21. Kenya: 2.2%
22. Mozambique: 7.2% (+3.8)      22. Senegal: 1.5%
23. Burkina: 6.7%   (-5)               23. Eritrea: 1.2%
24. Benin: 5.8%  (2003)               24. Nigeria: 1.2% 
25. Algeria : 5.7% (+5.4)             25. Mauritius: 1.1%
26. Ethiopia: 4.9% (+4)               26. Congo: 1%
27. Tanzania: 4.7%  (+0.4)          27. Ethiopia: 0.9%
28. Eritrea: 4.6%  (+3.4)             28. Ghana: 0.8% 
29. Cameroon: 2.2% (-11)           29. Algeria: 0.3%

No data for adolescents from Mauritius, Chad, RDC, Gambia.
No data for adults from Benin, Botswana, Lesotho, Niger, Sao Tome,