Tobacco Induced Diseases (Mar 2018)

Support for ban on smoking in public places among adults in Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Bossman Asare,
  • Daniel Owusu,
  • Hadii M. Mamudu,
  • Rijo M. John,
  • Abdallah Ibrahim,
  • Edward Brenya,
  • Ahmed E.O. Ouma

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18332/tid/84627
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1

Abstract

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Background Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure continues to be a major problem across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Studies have called for immediate steps to address SHS exposure in SSA. Although several SSA countries are implementing smoke-free policies (SFPs), public support of these policies can affect their success. While support for SFPs has been studied in other countries, there is limited literature on SFPs in SSA. This study estimated the prevalence and factors associated with support for SPFs in four SSA countries. Methods Data from 27,952 participants of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey conducted in Nigeria (2012), Cameroon (2013), Uganda (2013) and Kenya (2014) were analyzed. Supports for smoking ban in eight public places were assessed. Descriptive analysis was conducted to estimate prevalence of support for SPF for the eight places and any support (defined as a support for SFP in at least one public place) for each country and pooled data. A multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with any support for SFPs. We report odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Support for any SFP was 99.3% ,99.4%, 99.8%, and 99.8% in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria, respectively. In the pooled data, support for SFPs ranged from 64.4% in restaurants to 98.8% in worship places. Adjusting for covariates, support for SFPs was significantly increased in participants who were aware of SHS harm, believed smoking causes serious illness, lived in homes where smoking is restricted, lived in smoke-free homes, resided in countries where three to five public places were completely smoke-free, and those aged 15-44 years. Conclusions The results suggest that support for SFPs increases as the number of smoke-free public places in a country increases. Implementing complete SFPs as described in the WHO FCTC in the SSA countries will likely succeed due to the prevailing high support for these policies.

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