Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Luz Myriam Reynales-Shigematsu, MD, MSc, Enrique Tirado, René Santos, Ing Elec, and Juan E. Hernández-Ávila, MSc. National Institute of Public Health (INSP), Mexico, Av. Universidad 655, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, 52+777-329-3000, fstillma@jhsph.edu

Mexico was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This study is testing a methodology to systematically assess tobacco promotion, cigarette advertising and cigarette acquisition in the vicinity of Mexican public secondary schools using a Geographic Information System (GIS). In Culiacán and Cuernavaca we located and characterized tobacco advertisements and stores and measured their radial distance from secondary schools that participated in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). We also observed tobacco purchases by students. Results inn Cuernavaca indicated, students often did not present ID when purchasing cigarettes, were offered the option to buy single cigarettes, and were exposed to tobacco propaganda inside stores and through the use of illegal billboards within 250 meters of schools. In Culiacán there was less tobacco propaganda compared to Cuernavaca, possibly because Culiacán schools were located in non-commercial areas. This correlates with the findings of the GYTS survey that 21.3% and 10.8% of students in Cuernavaca and Culiacán, respectively, were active smokers. Although anti-tobacco legislation exists in Mexico, these laws are not observed, as demonstrated by the rampant tobacco propaganda found in the vicinity of Cuernavaca schools. Tobacco control laws need to be reinforced to deter tobacco use in Mexican adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Describe the GIS method and how it was used to assess tobacco advertising and marketing in Mexico.
• 2.Identify the factors that are related with differences in smoking rates in the two cities
• 3.Discuss how tobacco control laws need to be reinforced in Mexico to deter tobacco use in Mexican adolescents.

Keywords: Tobacco Control, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation