Harare, 28 January 2016 - This was revealed in the summary report of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) country report for Zimbabwe which was launched on Wednesday 27th January in Harare. The GYTS was conducted in 2014, and involved a representative sample of grade 7 pupils and forms 1—3 students aged 13 –15 years. It was a questionnaire based survey that consisted of 6,427 eligible students drawn from randomly selected classes from 100 sampled schools with a response rate of 70.4%.

Speaking on behalf of the WHO Representative at the launch, Dr Anderson Chimusoro, Medical Officer responsible for  disease prevention and control in the WHO country office, congratulated the Government of Zimbabwe for bold and progressive steps against the growing use of tobacco products and its negative effects. He said the completion of the GYTS country report is a follow through by Zimbabwe to the accession to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and it contributes to the realization of the WHO FCTC’s efforts to protect minors from accessing, and exposure to tobacco products.

He, however, expressed concern that according to the survey findings, as high as 20% of youths were using tobacco products, 11.2% of whom were current users. “These statistics are alarming, especially considering that only 22%of adults are estimated to be using tobacco products according to the 2011-2012 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey,” said Dr Chimusoro. He also reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to guide the Government of Zimbabwe to apply the WHO FCTC and its related tools, to monitor progress, as well as to share evidence on what works.

In a speech read on his behalf by Dr L. Mbengeranwa, the Chairman of the Health Services Board, The Honorable Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa said the results of the GYTS have shown that there is need to enhance capacity as a country to design, implement and evaluate tobacco control and prevention programs. “This will save lives, reduce illness, and help reduce the economic burden associated with tobacco related illness and lost productivity,” said part of the speech.

The GYTS is a school-based survey designed to enhance the capacity of countries to monitor tobacco use among youth and to guide the implementation and evaluation of tobacco prevention and control programs. The survey provides a global standard to systematically monitor youth tobacco use and track key tobacco control indicators.

Zimbabwe completed the 4th GYTS in 2014 with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To promote utilization and response action to the Zimbabwe 2014 GYTS Country Report findings and recommendations, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education jointly planned and launched the report.

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For more information, please contact:

JULIAS Wendy, Email: juliasw [at] who.int