Introduction: Tobacco use is the leading global cause of preventable death. According to World
Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use attributes nearly 6 million deaths a year. According to
the report of the surgeon general 2012, more than 80% of adult smokers begin smoking by 18
years of age with 99% of first use by 26 years of age. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey
(GYTS) was developed to gather comprehensive tobacco prevention and control information on
young people.
Objectives: Describe the prevalence of cigarette and other tobacco use as well as information on
five determinants of tobacco use: access/availability and price, environmental tobacco smoke
exposure (ETS), cessation, media, and advertising and school curriculum.
Method: The Cambodia GYTS was a school-based survey of students in grades 7 through 12
conducted in 2010. A two-stage cluster sample design was used to produce representative data
for all of Cambodia. A total of 4,556 students participated in the Cambodia GYTS, of which
1,637 were ages 13 to 15 years. The overall response rate of all students surveyed was 92.7%.
Results: Current use of any tobacco product was 6.3% (7.9% for boys and 5.0% for girls) and the
current smokers were 0.2% (0.4% for boys and 0.0% for girls). Current use of other tobacco
product was 6.2% (7.6% for boys and 5.0% for girls). About 6.0% of never smokers are likely to
initiate smoking next year. About 11% think boys and 5.8% think girls who smoke have more
friends. Likewise, 3.9% think boys and 3.2% think girls who smoke look more attractive. ETS
exposure was very high. Three in ten (31.5%) students lived in a home where others smoke in
their presence. Over four in 10 (43.0%) are exposed to smoke in public places outside their
home. Three in ten (30.2%) have one or more parents who smoke. Seven in ten (69.8%) think
smoke from others is harmful to them and seven in ten (69.2%) of students thought smoking
should be banned from public places.
Many programs to raise awareness in youths have been directly targeted at youths. However,
this information has been diffused with other contradicting messages which portray positive
images of smoking and using tobacco products. More than four in five (82.3%) students saw
anti-smoking media messages in the past 30 days. While three in five (61.2%) saw pro-cigarette
advertising on billboards and 44.8% saw pro-cigarette advertising in newspaper or magazines in
the past 30 days. About 27% of students have an object with a cigarette brand logo on it and
approximately 4.9% of the students were offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company
representative. Nearly one in three students had been taught in class, during the past year, about
the dangers of smoking and about one in five students had discussed in class, during the past
year, reasons why people their age smoke.
Conclusion: The findings indicates that there is no statistically difference of prevalence of any
form of tobacco use in year 2003 and 2010, though there has been decreasing of smoking
prevalence from 5.5% to 0.2%. This survey provides the comprehensive picture on the situation
related to tobacco matters among school students in Cambodia and gives us the opportunity and
the main ideas on how to develop the tobacco control program in schools. The immediate action
is required to prevent youth exposure to second hand smoke, pro-cigarette advertising messages,
never smokers in initiate smoking in future and to educate students in class the harmful effects of
tobacco use.