Youth and Tobacco Use

This was a research study that aimed to understand the tobacco use and related factors among pre-university students in Bengaluru. Specific objectives were to (1) understand extent and pattern of tobacco use; (2) understand perceptions of tobacco and tobacco users; and (3) assess implementation of the select provision of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). The study used a mixed-methods approach collecting data through a survey, focus group discussions and photo documentation techniques. A total of 1087 students from 19 pre-university colleges spread across Bengaluru were studied. The study found that 33.1% of students had ever used tobacco while 7.2% of students were the current users of tobacco. More than 30% of students reported seeing their teachers using tobacco while nearly 50% of students had at least one of their family members using tobacco. In violation of the prevailing COTPA provisions, 18 out of 19 pre-university colleges had one or more tobacco selling points within 100 yards of their campus. Over 59% of minors were able to directly purchase tobacco products from vendors. This study was primarily supported through the SRTT-ISEC visiting fellowship awarded to Upendra Bhojani.

– Bhojani U. Youth and tobacco use: a monograph on perceptions, practices & policies. Bangalore: Institute of Public Health; 2013

– Bhojani U, Elias MA, Devadasan N. Adolescents’ perceptions about smoker in Karnataka, India. BMC Public Health 2011;11:563

Cluster updates

Unpacking Interventions

by iphindia | Jan 23, 2019

Dr. Pragati Hebbar will be presenting a seminar on the topic ‘Unpacking implementation’.

As part of her early career Wellcome trust/ DBT India Alliance fellowship she is undertaking an ‘Implementation research for taking tobacco control policy interventions to scale in India.’ One of the first steps in this endeavour is to unpack ‘implementation’ and related concepts / models / theories / frameworks and define it for this project purpose. Through this seminar she would like to share her readings and thoughts on the topic of implementation and garner feedback into how she has situated the same in her work.

IPH observes National road safety week – 2019

by iphindia | Jan 12, 2019

Awareness activities on road safety by the Institute of Public Health and Padmashree school of public health under the initiative of 'SAFER ROADS BENGALURU' at Hebbal Junction Institute of Public Health under the banner of 'SAFER ROADS BENGALURU' initiative in...

A WALKATHON to mark World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims

by iphindia | Nov 22, 2018

Mr. Sameer, a road crash survivor addressing the event organised by IPH under the banner of Safer roads Bengaluru initiative to mark World Day of Remembrance -2018 A Walkathon was organized on 17th Nov 2018 by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Bengaluru in...

parliamentarians about tobacco

by iphindia | Oct 26, 2018

parliamentarians about tobacco: This project aimed to map and analyse the elected representatives of Indian parliament,who participated in Lok Sabha

Tenth webinar in the Equilogues series

by iphindia | Oct 24, 2018

Institute of Public Health Bengaluru is pleased to announce the tenth webinar in the Equilogues series which was started by the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology as part of their projet Closing the Gap: Health Equity Research Initiative in India. Please find attached the webinar announcement for the same.

Theme: Inclusion of minorities in public services in India

Upendra Bhojani at the Institute of Public Health (Bengaluru) led the India part of a multi-country collaborative project that aimed at building local network of researchers/practitioners/policymakers that can address social inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities in public services. Drawing on the findings from a scoping review of literature and a series of stakeholders consultations in Karnataka, he will briefly highlight the role of inclusive policies (esp in areas of education, health, governance, employment) in enhancing inclusion of minorities as well as gaps in our knowledge.

Implementation research for taking tobacco control policy interventions to scale in India

by iphindia | Aug 16, 2018

Tobacco kills approximately six million people globally and over one million adults in India each year. In India, a comprehensive tobacco control law the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 exists. However, the implementation remains sub-optimal. COTPA has worked in some places/contexts/settings and not in others. From a policy and implementation perspective, it is crucial to systematically understand how and why the implementation of this law has occurred. By doing this, we will improve our knowledge of implementing effective tobacco control policies (TCPs) as well as identify system-wide implementation bottlenecks that could affect other sectors like pharmaceutical/food. I aim to improve the implementation of TCP in India by describing and explaining the why and how of its implementation across Indian states. Some of the hypotheses include: a) Champions at either political or bureaucratic level facilitate policy making and implementation process b) Implementation is weakened when restrictive mandates are provided to departments who are not involved in punitive action. The study will be conducted in five phases using quantitative and qualitative methods to map implementation landscape and using theory-driven inquiry to draw lessons. The purpose of this seminar is to seek suggestions to improve the proposal and shape the work that I will be doing over the next 5 years as part of my early career India Alliance fellowship.

(2007-2008)

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