Background: Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and short messaging service (SMS)-based tobacco cessation interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing tobacco use in many populations, but evidence is needed on which tailored treatments are most efficacious in meeting the complex medical and psychosocial factors confronting people living with HIV (PLWH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper describes the protocol of a study to test the efficacy of both NRT and a tailored SMS-based tobacco use cessation intervention among PLWH in Uganda and Zambia.
Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 800 adult PLWH who use tobacco will be recruited by health care professionals at HIV treatment centers where they are receiving care.
Objectives: To examine the prevalence of hypertension and access to related healthcare services among rural residents of Mumbwa district in Zambia.
Design: Cross-sectional study with probability cluster sampling.
Setting: Rural Zambia.
Introduction: Tobacco production continues to increase in low- and middle-income countries creating complications for tobacco control efforts. There is the need to understand and address the global tobacco leaf supply as a means of decreasing tobacco consumption and improving farmers livelihoods in line with Article 17 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This study aims to understand the reasons why farmers grow tobacco and identify factors that influence these reasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe paper "Consequences of policy incoherence: how Zambia's post-FCTC investment policy stimulated tobacco production" was published without including the acknowledgements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZambia, a tobacco-growing country, provides manufacturing incentives to attract foreign and domestic investment. In an earlier study, we cautioned that these incentives could lead to local tobacco manufacturing, undermining its domestic tobacco control efforts. In 2018, as part of our continuing research program, we conducted key informant interviews (n = 15) and document analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia, where cardiovascular diseases account for 8% of the mortality rates. Despite an increasing number of cardiovascular disease-related studies in Zambia, qualitative studies exploring how cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors are understood in the socioeconomic and cultural contexts are still few. This study, therefore, aimed to analyze the beliefs, perceptions, and behaviors related to cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors among the local residents of Zambia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia, has experienced an increase in overweight and obesity due to rapid lifestyle changes associated with recent economic growth. We explored the prevalence and correlates of overweight and obesity in rural Zambia. We also investigated the role of self-perception of body weight in weight control given the local socio-cultural context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The tobacco industry has used the alleged negative impacts on economic livelihoods for tobacco farmers as a narrative to oppose tobacco control measures in low/middle-income countries. However, rigorous empirical evidence to support or refute this claim remains scarce. Accordingly, we assess how much money households earn from selling tobacco, and the costs they incur to produce the crop, including labour inputs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTobacco control norms have gained momentum over the past decade. To date 43 of 47 Sub-Saharan African countries are party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The near universal adoption of the FCTC illustrates the increasing strength of these norms, although the level of commitment to implement the provisions varies widely.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tobacco production is said to be an important contributor to Zambia's economy in terms of labour and revenue generation. In light of Zambia's obligations under the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) we examined the institutional actors in Zambia's tobacco sector to better understand their roles and determine the institutional context that supports tobacco production in Zambia.
Methods: Findings from 26 qualitative, semi-structured individual or small-group interviews with key informants from governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations were analysed, along with data and information from published literature.
Background: The preservation of the economic livelihood of tobacco farmers is a common argument used to oppose tobacco control measures. However, little empirical evidence exists about these livelihoods. We seek to evaluate the economic livelihoods of individual tobacco farmers in Malawi, including how much money they earn from selling tobacco, and the costs they incur to produce the crop, including labour inputs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Policy misalignment across different sectors of government serves as one of the pivotal barriers to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) implementation. This paper examines the logic used by government officials to justify investment incentives to increase tobacco processing and manufacturing in the context of FCTC implementation in Zambia.
Methods: We conducted qualitative semistructured interviews with key informants from government, civil society and intergovernmental economic organisations (n=23).
Objectives: Little is known about cigarette pricing and brand loyalty in sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines these issues in Zambia, analysing data from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Zambia Survey.
Methods: Data from Wave 1 of the ITC Zambia Survey (2012) were analysed for current smokers of factory-made (FM) cigarettes compared with those who smoked both FM and roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes, using multivariate logistic regression models to identify the predictors of brand loyalty and reasons for brand choice.
Background: Tobacco use is the leading cause of noncommunicable disease morbidity and mortality. Most smokers initiate the smoking habit as adolescents or young adults.
Methods: Survey data from the 2007 Lusaka (Zambia) Global Youth Tobacco Survey were used to estimate the prevalence of current cigarette smoking and assess whether exposure to pro-tobacco media and perception of the potential harm of secondhand smoke are associated with adolescents' smoking.