An Assessment of Smoking in Two Brazilian Universities

Brazil has demonstrated a large reduction in smoking prevalence from 1989 to 2003 as well as having implemented many tobacco control policies and ratified the Framework Convention. However, youth and young adults have not shown the same overall decrease in smoking prevalence as seen in other segments of the Brazilian population. Another interesting finding is that smoking prevalence was much higher in the southern region of the country: a region dominated by tobacco farming. While Brazil has conducted numerous studies to assess prevalence, no studies have examined environmental factors that may be contributing to higher smoking rates. In order to understand why young adults are not decreasing their smoking and why smoking rates are even higher in southern Brazil, a study was conducted in two universities among 18-24 year olds. In addition to a survey of students, focus groups and observational scans of the neighborhoods surrounding the universities were also conducted to gather more information about social and environmental factors that could be contributing to high smoking rates. These factors included point of purchase advertising, sales of single sticks of cigarettes, university smoking rules and home policies. This study provided some of the first data on these environmental factors that will now be used to plan more effective interventions for university studies. One of the most important actions identifies is the need to institute university smoking policies since many faculty and smoking students are smoking inside university buildings. This study was funded by the Fogarty International Center.