College of Public Health Faculty, Alumni, and Students Publish on Global Tobacco Use

Dr. Hadii Mamudu, Associate Professor for the Department of Health Services Management and Policy in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, has authored an article in Nicotine and Tobacco Research.  The article, “Support for smoke-free public places among adults in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” examines the support for smoke-free public places in sub-Saharan Africa and delineates their correlates.

College of Public Health alumni Daniel Owusu and current students Adekunle Oke, Amy Poole, and Fenose Osedeme are co-authors.  Additional co-authors include members of the National Institutes of Health, Ghana’s Electoral Commission, Baylor University and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Research.

The article points out that less than a third of the world’s population is protected by comprehensive smoke-free policies designed to reduce the risk of secondhand smoke exposure.  No country in sub-Saharan African has comprehensive smoke-free policy that covers all the public venues.  According to survey data analyzed by the authors, adults living in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda overwhelmingly supported prohibition of smoking in public places, with over 90% support for such prohibition in all public places except bars.  Support for smoking prohibition in bars ranges from 65.8% (Nigeria) to 91.0% (Uganda)

This broad level of support for prohibition of smoking in public places should boost efforts by legislators and other policymakers to develop and implement relevant policies.