The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Some tobacco multinationals are planning to establish IT Youth Centres in some African countries as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda. Such centres will be devoid of quality social messages and materials that will go against their utmost ambition of ‘killing millions to make millions'. This project canvasses stakeholders in Tobacco Control for Expression of Interest and ACTION for the setting up of Youth Centres in Africa for the youth to recreate in and get busy intellectually for development. There are few centres for the youth to get ‘edutainment'. This is a huge gap that tobacco multinationals are planning to bridge.

Methods: All over the developed world youth problems are combined into one and combated by the widespread of edutainment exhibitions and museums. These provide the missing links for the youth by offering highly visual, hands on, easily accessible material in a popular mass appeal format. These also help in fighting boredom, social vices and idleness. ‘An idle mind is a devil's workshop'

Results: Apart from checkmating the youth from bad habits such as tobacco smoking, the centres will also provide much needed financial input into the community, offering jobs for the community, professionals, academics and the volunteer. They would offer the youth, the practical opportunities of relating directly with specimens or exhibits or material on display. The youth will learn and be able to carry out tobacco control edutainment activities, which will adequately prepare them for the present and future battles of life.