Maizurah Omar, PhD from Malaysia talks about The Greater Impact of Warning
Labels in Southeast Asia Compared to Four High Income Countries.
LISTEN
The Greater Impact of Warning Labels in Southeast Asia Compared to Four High Income Countries: Findings From the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project
Methodology: Nationally representative samples of 4004 smokers from Thailand and Malaysia (from the ITC Southeast Asia Survey) and 8377 smokers from Canada, USA, UK, and Australia (from the ITC Four Country Survey) were asked to respond to label-relevant questions that were standardized across countries, including salience and perceived impact of cigarette warning labels such as: (a) labels stopped you from smoking, (b) avoided labels in last month, (c) labels make you think about the risks of smoking, (d) labels make you likely to quit, and (e) reason for quitting. Smokers were asked to report demographic variables (e.g. gender, age, and income), and measures of smoking behaviour.
Results: Gender, age, and income were significantly associated with the degree of noticing and with reading and looking closely at warning labels. Male, 40-54 years of age and moderate income from all the six countries are significantly associated with a higher rate of reading and looking closely at warning labels. These demographic factors have also been associated with positive changes in smoking behaviour. Levels of the label-relevant variables were generally higher in Thailand and Malaysia than they were in the four other countries. This suggests that the impact of warning labels in non-high income countries may be greater than it is in high income countries. We discuss possible reasons for this important pattern of findings.
Comments