Ayo-Yusuf, O.A., Olutola, B.G. and Agaku, I.T., 2014.
Health promotion international, 31(2), pp.414-422.
This study assessed the impact of school personnel’s permissiveness toward tobacco industry sponsorship activities on their support for complete bans on tobacco advertisements, comprehensive smoke-free laws and increased tobacco prices. Data was collected from the Global School Personnel Survey in 29 African countries (n = 17 929). The results show great support for tobacco control policies among all countries with the median of prevalence of support for complete ban on tobacco advertisements (84.9%); comprehensive smoke-free laws (92.4%) and tobacco price increases (80.8%). School personnel who believed that the tobacco industry should be allowed to sponsor school events were significantly less likely to support complete bans on tobacco advertisements and comprehensive smoke-free laws. In contrast, support for complete tobacco advertisement bans was more likely among those who believed that the tobacco industry encourages youths to smoke, and among those who taught about health sometimes compared with those who did not teach about health at all. The findings showed the need to educate school staffs on tobacco industry’s strategies to undermine tobacco control policies. Support from schools may assist reduce susceptibility, experimentation and use of tobacco products by youth.
