Smoking status among staff and teachers of Middle and High schools in Vietnam, 2022

Abstract

The objective of this study is to describe the current smoking behavior of officials and teachers at middle and high schools in Vietnam. This cross - sectional descriptive study was conducted with 2,960 officials and teachers from 53 middle and high schools across the country. The results reveal a smoking rate of 10.2% among officials and teachers, with a breakdown of 28.4% for males and 1.5% for females. The highest smoking rates are found among individuals over 50 years old (19.7%), those management positions (19.5%), and those delivering health education (17.6%). These findings indicate that further efforts are required by the Tobacco Control Prevention Program to reduce the smoking rates among officials and teachers, thereby mitigating passive smoking among students. Such efforts could include promoting communication to increase awareness and providing sanctions to monitor and penalize violations, as prescribed by the Tobacco control Law.