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"The Convention of the Rights of the Child, our moral obligations, and plain, national-economic logic all commit us to do our utmost to prevent millions of children and young adults becoming victims of the tobacco epidemic."
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General Emeritus, World Health Organization
When your product kills its customers, how else can you maintain your sales?
Based on the experience of developed countries, most regular adult smokers begin smoking before age 18. In addition, as adults successfully quit smoking to improve their health, the number of smokers begins to shrink. As a result, promoting and marketing tobacco products to young people is essential to maintain or expand sales of tobacco - both replacing adult smokers who quit and by early exposure, increasing chance that the experimenting young person of today will become a regular smoker as an adult.
WHO's concern about youth & tobacco joins that of many other organizations and individuals around the world. These web pages are intended to raise awareness and help build more effective partnerships among those working for a generation of tobacco-free children and youth.
U.N. Foundation Project on Youth & Tobacco
This two and a half year project (October 1998 - March 2001) is focused in a small group of developing countries and draws upon the combined technical expertise and operational resources of a number of UN agencies - in particular WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank. The agencies work together with the global scientific community, government and non-government agencies, institutions and systems within countries, the media, and with young people to show that together they can make a difference in this important public health issue.
What in the world works? International Consultation on Youth & Tobacco
WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) and Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), in collaboration with the Singapore Cancer Society and the Singapore Ministry of Health, hosted an international consultation meeting in Singapore, September 28-30, 1999.
This meeting intended to draw attention to the growing scope of tobacco use by children and young people and to focus on defining what works in the field of youth & tobacco. By moving to an evidence-based framework for policy and programs, tobacco control advocates and those who work with youth will be better positioned to implement the most effective policies and programs. Given the vast resources expended to promote and market tobacco products to young people all over the world, it is important that public health and education leaders be able to advocate for the most effective use of what are often very limited resources.
Global Youth Tobacco Survey
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) is a school-based tobacco specific survey which focuses on adolescents age 13-15. It assesses students' attitudes, knowledge and behaviours related to tobacco use and passive smoking exposure, as well as youth exposure to prevention curriculum in school, community programs, and media messages aimed at preventing and reducing youth tobacco use. The GYTS provides information on where tobacco products are obtained and used, and information related to the effectiveness of enforcement measures.
Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS)
The GSPS collects information from school personnel concerning their use of tobacco and their tobacco related school policies and programs.
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