| Summary: | Objective
Tobacco usage continues to be pronounced prominently as a public health concern distressing a broad-spectrum of health and well-being of populations around the world. Despite the harm caused by its consumption, the extent and its consequences to youths in resource limited settings is not known. To determine the enormity and consequences of tobacco usage among youths while specific objectives were to determine the level of usage, contributing factors and the consequences of its usage among youths in resource limited settings.
Methods
A cross-sectional study design with simple random sampling was used. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS. Chi- Square and Odds Ratio were used to test for significance of association.
Results
Tobacco usage and gender of the respondents was statistically significant at 95% confidence level with χ²=107.0; df =1; p=0.0001. Odds Ratio showed that males were 7.5 times more likely to use tobacco compared to female respondents. Main source of tobacco products was in markets (78%) and friends (22%). Peer pressure was reported by 48% as the main factor that drives youths to tobacco usage. A total of 56.6% of the respondents did not know any health consequences of tobacco usage.
Conclusions
The recommended intervention included awareness creation, reduction of accessibility to tobacco, health education and functional youth friendly centres.
|
|---|