Statistics from youth survey guiding tobacco control programme
THE recently completed Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) has provided new numbers that guide Guyana’s comprehensive tobacco control programme.
According to the study, which targeted 1,751 students aged 13 to 15 years old, 72 per cent of them saw anti-smoking messages; 56 per cent pro-cigarette ads on billboards and 58 per cent the same in newspapers and magazines, within the past month. But Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said messages need to be clear when it comes to advocating no tobacco use.
“More than one in five students use any form of tobacco,” he disclosed, in an interview.
Dr Ramsammy pointed out that manufacturers of tobacco products have resources that cannot be matched by the ministry necessitating a clear stance on no smoking. “There is an urgent need to act. The survey shows tragic numbers,” he maintained.
The study revealed that 11 per cent of the students who responded were offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company representative that is 193 of the 1,751.
Some eight million people are expected to be affected by tobacco use by 2030 and, in Guyana, Ramsammy said, while the use among the adult population is reducing, usage among the younger is on the rise, a fact proven by the GYTS.
The school based GYTS looked at several factors and is used to monitor the use of tobacco by students and also influence intervention programmes and relevant policies. It was the third such exercise to be conducted, following others in 2000 and 2004, he disclosed.
The GYTS indicated that 25 per cent of students had smoked cigarettes and 21 per cent are currently using tobacco products.
It said, while more boys than girls are smoking, there is an increase in the number of girls using tobacco and that production of tobacco products, such as chewable ones and cigars have increased.
The statistics also showed that 11 per cent of persons who never smoked are likely to begin smoking next year.

Worrying
Dr Ramsammy admitted that the figures are worrying and warned that, if more is not done, the world would lose the fight against tobacco.
“More than 50 per cent of the children who buy cigarettes in a store are not refused purchase because of their age,” the minister noted, adding that 35 per cent of them smoke at home.
The survey established that 50 per cent of the students interviewed have been taught in class, during the past year, about the dangers of smoking and 34 per cent discussed reasons why people aged 13 to 15 years smoked in the past year.
Forty-eight per cent have been enlightened, in the past year, to the effects of tobacco use.
Ramsammy, reminding that smoking creates ill health for smokers, themselves, said second hand smoking has been proven, time and again, to be very dangerous and the
respondents acknowledged that high exposure, too.
It was also found that more than three in 10 students have at least one parent who smokes and seven in every 10 smokers think that smoke from others is harmful to them.
However, it is not all bad news, one encouraging statistic is the fact that three- quarters of the respondents advocate for public smoke free spaces, he said.
Dr Ramsammy concluded that there has been undisputed recognition that tobacco is a killer and there needs to be more work and collaboration by stakeholders is needed to win the no tobacco fight.
He said, presently, draft legislation on tobacco control in Guyana is being developed.