The relationship between proximity of tobacco retail outlets to schools and tobacco use among school personnel in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

We investigated the impact of proximity of tobacco retail outlets to schools on tobacco-related behavior and attitudes of school personnel in sub-Saharan Africa. A pooled analysis of the 2006-2011 Global School Personnel Surveys from 19 sub-Saharan African countries was performed (n=12,201). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to measure the relationship between proximity of tobacco outlets to school premises and school personnel's tobacco-related behavior and attitudes (p<0.05). Among all school personnel, there was a significant association between the presence of tobacco outlets on school premises and current cigarette smoking (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=3.89; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.17-7.20), current smokeless tobacco use (aOR=2.63; 95%CI: 1.04-6.65), and permissiveness towards tobacco industry sponsorship activities in school (aOR=2.27; 95%CI: 1.37-3.78). Complete smoke-free school policies were associated with lower odds of current cigarette smoking (aOR=0.42; 95%CI: 0.23-0.74), but were not significantly associated with current smokeless tobacco use. Among lifetime any tobacco users, there was a significant association between the presence of tobacco outlets on school premises and use of combustible (aOR=2.03; 95%CI: 1.09-3.75) and smokeless (aOR=3.85; 95%CI: 1.51-9.81) tobacco products on campus within the past year. Policies limiting the distance of tobacco outlets from schools, coupled with complete tobacco-free school policies may reduce tobacco use among school personnel.