The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To describe the prevalence of cigarette and other tobacco use as well as information on five determinants of tobacco use of 8th, 9th and 10th grade students in Myanmar: access/availability and price, environmental tobacco smoke, cessation, media and advertising, and school curriculum.

Methods: A multi-stage, school-based, two-cluster survey(n=6,100, 8th, 9th and 10th grade) was conducted in 100 basic education middle and high schools of Myanmar, using a pre-tested modified questionnaire based on the Global Youth Tobacco Survey questionnaire. developed by CDC, USA.

Results: Among the sample population of 6,100, about one in four students have ever tried tobacco and one third of the students were currently using some form of tobacco at the time of survey;24.4% of males and 5.1% of female were reported as current users including smokeless tobacco. About 9.7% of students were currently smoking at the time of survey, the majority of which smoked cigarettes. Prevalence of tobacco use among the 8th, 9th and 10th graders of Myanmar students was relatively high. Access to tobacco products was reported to be easy. Lack of legislation to prohibit sale of tobacco to minors led to easy access of minors to tobacco products. Although dangers of tobacco has been included in the school curriculum, only 66% reported as being taught at schools. National legislation on tobacco and promotion of education on dangers of tobacco are urgently required and measures should also be sought to ensure that students were being taught of hazards of tobacco as part of their curriculum.