Tobacco use by youth: a surveillance report from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey project

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) project was developed by the World H ealth Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track tobacco use among youth in countries across the world, using a commo n methodology and core questionnaire. The GYTS is school based and employs a two-stage sample design to produce representative data an smoking among s tudents aged 13-15 years. The first stage consists of a probabilistic selec tion of schools, and the second consists of a random selection of classes f rom the participating schools. All students in the selected classes are eli gible for the survey. In 1999, the GYTS was conducted in 13 countries and is currently in progres s in over 30 countries. This report describes data from 12 countries: Barba dos, China, Costa Rica, Fiji, Jordan, Poland, the Russian Federation (Mosco w), South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine (Kiev), Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. The f indings show that tobacco use in the surveyed age group ranged from a high of 33% to a low of 10%. While the majority of current smokers wanted to sto p smoking, very few were able to attend a cessation programme. In most coun tries the majority of young people reported seeing advertisements for cigar ettes in media outlets, but anti-tobacco advertising was rare. The majority of young people reported being taught in school about the dangers of smoki ng. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure was very high in all countries. Th ese results show that the GYTS surveillance system is enhancing the capacit y of countries to design, implement, and evaluate tobacco prevention and co ntrol programmes.