• Data from Nacada indicates that tobacco use prevalence among youth aged 15-24.
• According to WHO, tobacco companies are now targeting young people with nicotine and tobacco products
Image: FILE
Children aged between 13 and 17 years will be able to learn about tactics the tobacco industry uses to hook them to addictive products.
The World Health Organisation has launched a new kit for school children to alert them about the various tactics.
The World No Tobacco Day was marked Sunday.
The focus is on protecting children and young people from exploitation by the tobacco and related industry.
According to WHO, tobacco companies are targeting young people with nicotine and tobacco products ‘in a bid to replace the more than eight million people that its products kill every year’.
The WHO estimates that more than 40 million young people aged between 13 to 15 years have already started to use tobacco globally.
Tobacco use among children in the country has been an issue of concern.
A study by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control found cigarettes on sale within 250 metres radius of schools in Nairobi, and sometimes closer.
Data from Nacada shows that the median age for initiating tobacco use in Kenya is 12 years.
The data further indicates that tobacco use prevalence among youth age 15-24 is three per cent.
This means that about 300,000 young people aged 15-24 use tobacco products, out of which two-thirds smoke cigarettes.
Apart from manufactured cigarettes and cigars, other tobacco products include hand-rolled cigarettes, pipes, shisha, snuff, chewed tobacco and Kuber.
Tobacco companies incentivise retailers near schools to place their products alongside sweets, candies and soft drinks and to display them at the eye level of children.
Kiosk and vending stalls sell single cigarettes, which make them affordable to students, in colourful display cases.
More than a third of tobacco retailers in Nairobi are located within eyesight of schools, shows the study that was done in 23 countries across four continents.
Of the retailers that stocked tobacco products near learning institutions, 250 were located within eyesight of a school.
A similar study conducted by the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance in Nairobi, Mbale, Kakamega and Chuka found that tobacco advertising and promotion is still very prevalent at point-of-sale in Kenya despite a comprehensive ban on advertising and promotion.
“In Kenya, children as young as seven are introduced to smoking by adults who could be parents or other close relatives and those that are supposed to be mentors and guides when they send them, smoke in their presence, or even give them cigarettes.” KETCA chairperson Joel Gitali told the Star.
Gitali said cultural activities in areas like Mt Kenya include tobacco use. Initiates who are minors are introduced to the products.
He noted that currently, many children have access to movies and other media content that promote tobacco use. When they see celebrities smoke they get attracted.
Gitali said children also get lured by tobacco dealers through social media. Nowadays children under 12 years are hooked on social media.
“Selling of soda, sweets, biscuits and toys together with cigarettes create curiosity in children who hide and buy cigarettes just to feel the taste. They end up being hooked early in life.”
He blamed it on poor enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act and shisha ban, saying it exposes children to tobacco by making it easy for them to purchase the single sticks.
“Vendors do not care about the age of their customers. This is why primary school kids are found with tobacco products and alcohol in schools and when they have parties outside school.”
He was concerned that the real situation is not documented hence the society does not pay great attention to it.
Through the kit, students will be able to participate in a number of classroom activities including scenarios that will put them in the shoes of the tobacco industry.
This is aimed at making them aware of how the industry tries to manipulate them into using deadly products.
The toolkit also contains an educational video, myth-buster quiz, and homework assignments.
According to the global health agency, the toolkit will help expose tactics such as parties and concerts hosted by the tobacco and related industries, e-cigarette flavours that attract youth like bubble-gum and candy, e-cigarette representatives presenting in schools, and product placement in popular youth streaming shows.
To reach Generation Z, WHO launched a TikTok challenge #TobaccoExposed and welcomed social media partners like Pinterest, Tinder, YouTube and TikTok to amplify messaging.
The WHO estimates that the tobacco industry invests more than $9 billion every year to advertise its products.
“Increasingly, it is targeting young people with nicotine and tobacco products in a bid to replace the 8 million people that its products kill every year,” WHO says.
It adds: “Even during a global pandemic, the tobacco and nicotine industry persist by pushing products that limit people’s ability to fight coronavirus and recover from the disease.”