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Action on Smoking and Health
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Report: More Girls Smoking Worldwide [08/08-3]
Excerpts from: Shock findings reveal more girls smoking worldwide
WCTOH
Media [08/07/03]
Differences in the prevalence of tobacco use among boys and girls throughout
the world have narrowed dramatically, according to a report released at the
WCTOH.
The findings are contained in the latest results from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), a monitoring initiative run by the US-based Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization.
Not long ago there were wide gaps in smoking and tobacco use among young people,
reflecting the overall gender difference worldwide that sees many more men with
a tobacco habit than women
In some countries the percentages of girls who smoke surpass those of boys. GYTS found that in Chile over 42 percent of girls smoke, compared with 35 percent of boys.
“These are girls of 13 years of age,” said Armando Peruga of the Pan American Health Organization. “The problem is a result of the marketing strategy of the tobacco industry.”
Tobacco habits are also changing, the survey found. More young people are experimenting with smokeless tobacco in the form of chewing tobacco, pastes and snuffs.
Traditional ways of smoking tobacco also influence youth tobacco use. In Lebanon 10 percent of boys and five percent of girls smoke cigarettes, but 45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls use other tobacco products, the most popular of which is the water pipe.
The CDC and WHO hope to use the findings to promote more incisive tobacco control proposals backed up by the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
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