Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Smoking Among Students and Staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and factors associated with smoking and to determine the knowledge, attitudes, practices on antismoking measures related to smoking among students and staff of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study design was used. A multistage stratified proportionate to size sampling technique was used to select the sample. The list of students and staff of UPM served as sampling frame. The total population for this study was 28053. Sample size was 2364 and was computed using EPI - INFO. Data was collected from 5th July to 27" August 2004 using a structured pre-tested questionnaire. The response rate was 85%. Out of the 2008 respondents, 60% were female, 62.8% Malay and 67.2% were Muslims. The overall prevalence of ever and current smokers amongst students and staff was 13.7% and 9.9%, respectively. The prevalence of ever and current smokers among male was 30% and 21.8%; and for the female was 2.8% and 2%. The prevalence of ever and current smokers among students was 12.1% and 8.9%; and staff was 26% and 17.7%, respectively. The mean initiation age of smoking was 16.7 + SD 3.7 years and it was lowest among Malays (16.3 years) and diploma level students (15 years). Prevalence of current smokers was high among Indians (12.7%) and Malays (1 1.6%) ethnic groups; and, Hindus (13%) and Muslim (1 1.9%) religious groups. Technicians had the highest (31.8%) current smoking prevalence at the UPM. Just for fim (54.2%) was the main reason for starting smoking and residence (45.1%) was the favourite place for smoking. Amongst current smokers, 63.9% had low level of addiction to nicotine. The prevalence of smoking was associated with age, economic status, race, religious, family and peer groups smoking habits. Most students and staff had good knowledge on the health risk of smoking. Never smokers had better knowledge on hazards of smoking and more positive attitudes. In conclusion, UPM smoking prevalence is low as compared to the national prevalence. However, it still constitutes a problem among university students and staff in UPM, in spite of their knowledge of its hazards, attitude and practices. There is a need to implement an anti-smoking program for university students and staff

Declining trend of tobacco use in a rural community of Bangladesh: Results of eight years of community interventions

Tobacco use in Bangladesh has been high, but there is no report on community-level intervention to reduce tobacco use. The aim of this article is to report the experience of eight years of community intervention to reduce tobacco use in a rural area of Bangladesh. We have done four householdbased surveys (2006, 2008, 2012, and 2014) in Ekhlaspur village of Chandpur district. One man and one woman aged ≥18 years from each of 600 households were selected for each survey randomly to monitor tobacco use in this village concomitant with community interventions. The intervention package included yard meetings, health facility-based counselling, observance of the world no-tobacco days, and periodic lectures in schools. Chi-square for linear trend analysis was done to examine declining trends of prevalence of tobacco use. There were 953 to 1015 participants, approximately half being men in each survey. Their mean age was 44 to 45 years in all surveys. A decline in tobacco use has been observed from 58.8 in 2006 to 43.4% in 2014 (Ptrend=0.000). There has not been any perceivable change in smoking in women because it was either zero or close to zero across surveys. A similar trend was observed in age groups, educational achievements, and hypertension (Ptrend=0.000). Smoking in men declined from 58.3 to 35.2% (Ptrend= 0.000). Community interventions in a sustainable manner can reduce tobacco use in rural communities of Bangladesh. BSMMU J 2022; 15(3): 157-16