Willingness of Students to Accept Exposure to Passive Smoking

• Main Authors: Enkeleint -Aggelos Mechilli, Velide Pulomemoj, Ela Peto, Majlinda Zahaj, Vitori Hasani, Charis Girvalaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Publishing 2019-03-01
• Series: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
• Subjects: passive smokers; second- hand smoking; student; exposure; willingness
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/tpc/,105625,0,2.html

Introduction Tobacco contains about 4.000 chemical ingredients. Smoking is considered as a serious health hazard not only for smokers but also for non-smokers. Second hand smoking (SHS) causes cancer heart and lung diseases as well as other health related issues. Worldwide around 600,000 people die each year because of exposure to SHS. Despite the fact that Albania has smoke free laws, their implementation still remain a problem. Methods The main aim of this cross-sectional study is to identify willingness of Vlora University students to accept their exposure on passive smoking. The study was conducted, on February and March 2019. Students of all academic years (both bachelor and master level) from Faculty of Public Health participated. A questionnaire with 16 questions was developed by the authors. Ethical approval was obtained by the ethical committee of the Faculty Results The actual study is ongoing and data collection has not been finalized. Final results will be presented at the conference. Conclusions Enforcement of smoke free laws are of paramount significance for Albania. Joint actions between the government, NGOs and civil society can lead to success. Advocacy for mass-media campaigns, regular monitoring by responsible institutions and high penalties in case of violations are some of needed actions by health policy makers.