476On February 9, NGO “Life” together with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) and the Public Health Center presented the results of a representative survey “The attitude of the population of Ukraine to anti-tobacco measures” at the Ukrinform news agency.
The survey was conducted based on the results of the information campaign “No smoking friendly. Health care is your contribution to victory”, implemented by the Public Health Center and the NGO “Life” from October to November 2022 with the support of the global non-profit organization “Vital Strategies”.
According to a representative survey conducted by KIIS in December 2022 among residents of Ukraine (aged 18-55), almost half of the respondents (48%) are aware of the anti-tobacco Law No. 1978-X — 89% of them are informed about the ban on smoking cigarettes for heating purposes in public places, and 62% — about completely smoke-free workplaces.
In addition, the respondents reported that, despite the entry into force of anti-tobacco measures, they still notice the use of tobacco products in places prohibited by the Law — for example, 79% of the survey participants noticed smoking at public transport stops, 61% — in apartment building premises for general use, and 37% — inside cafes, bars and restaurants. However, Ukrainians are ready to defend their right to a smoke-free environment — about 80% of respondents said that they would take certain measures if smoking was detected in a prohibited place. In particular, more than half would act proactively: they would ask the smoker to stop smoking, or they would complain to the institution’s administration or law enforcement agencies.
“73% of citizens support the further expansion of smoke-free places, so it is important to ensure proper response to citizens’ complaints in order to maintain a high level of enforcement of the anti-tobacco law, in particular, by the National Police and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection. State control is extremely important to protect the health of the population from the harm of second-hand smoke and nicotine emissions,” emphasized Dmytro Kupyra, executive director of the NGO “Life”.
KIIS researchers also asked how the respondents evaluated the materials of the anti-tobacco campaign “No smoking friendly. Health care is your contribution to victory” and how it could their attitude to smoking. For example, anti-tobacco advertising prompted 64% of surveyed smokers to think about the impact of passive smoking on the health of others, and 55% — about the impact of smoking on their health. In addition, under the influence of the information campaign, 46% of smokers said that they thought about giving up smoking electronic cigarettes or cigarettes for heating.
It is interesting that the respondents who were familiar with the advertising materials before the survey evaluated their effectiveness more positively. For example, 61% of non-smokers who have seen an information campaign before said that it encourages them not to start smoking at all. Among those non-smokers who did not notice the campaign before, this figure is 44%.
“Information campaigns about the risks of using tobacco and nicotine products are an effective tool that helps raise awareness among the population about the risks of using tobacco and nicotine products, and also promotes the spread of healthy behaviour patterns. Therefore, public health information campaigns should be conducted regularly, taking into account the specifics of the target audiences and current issues of public protection,” said Iryna Soroka, head of the Department of Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases at Public Health Center.
The results of the survey showed insufficient awareness of the population about the harm of electronic smoking devices and hookahs (which are tobacco products), while the respondents are fully convinced of the harm to health from smoking cigarettes. The absolute majority of respondents (85%) completely agree that smoking cigarettes causes serious diseases. However, only 58%, 58%, and 45% of respondents agreed that using e-cigarettes, heated cigarettes, and hookahs is harmful to health. The situation is similar to the opinion of the population regarding passive smoking. 80% of survey participants believe that second-hand cigarette smoke is harmful to the body, but only 51%, 52% and 43% agree with the same statement about the second-hand emissions of e-cigarettes, heating cigarettes and hookahs, respectively.
“Implementing control over electronic smoking devices was one of the major health policy wins in 2022. Now the task of the Government is to ensure compliance with legislative changes. As early as July 2023, regulations prohibiting the advertising of electronic cigarettes and tobacco heating cigarettes, which are used together with tobacco heating devices, such as “IQOS”, “glo”, will enter into force. This is a step to protect children and young people from misleading advertising — because there is no such thing as safe smoking. At the same time, society needs additional information about all the dangers involved in the use of any tobacco and nicotine products,” emphasized Lada Bulah, Parliament Member of Ukraine.
In addition, we received the following information from the survey:
80% of campaign aware and 44% of campaign unaware knew about the anti-tobacco law.
76% of campaign aware smokers and 62% of campaign unaware smokers felt concerned about the effect of smoking on the health of other people after watching the campaign materials.
53% of campaign aware smokers and 44% of campaign unaware smokers thought about quitting smoking electronic cigarettes or HTPs after watching the campaign materials.
50% of campaign aware smokers and 43% of campaign unaware smokers made an attempt of quitting electronic cigarettes or HTPs after watching the campaign materials.
48% of campaign aware smokers and 42% of campaign unaware smokers looked into ways to quit smoking electronic cigarettes or HTPs after watching the campaign materials.
83% of campaign aware and 79% of campaign unaware support increasing the number of public places that will become completely smoke-free.
79% of campaign aware and 70% of campaign unaware support the ban on smoking HTPs in designated public places.
56% of campaign aware and 39% of campaign unaware will ask the smoker to stop smoking.
56% of campaign aware and 32% of campaign unaware will complain to the staff in charge of this location or to law enforcement or other controlling authorities.
Materials of the informational social campaign “No smoking friendly. Health care is your contribution to victory” are available for free distribution, subject to mandatory reference to the Public Health Center and NGO “Life”.
For contact information: Anastasia Bonkovska, project manager of NGO “Life”, (050) 293-39-97, bonkovskaa@center-life.org
For reference: Every year, 130 thousand of Ukrainians die from diseases caused by smoking. Smoking also causes significant damage to the economy of our country: according to experts’ calculations, annual economic losses amount to 3.2% of Ukraine’s GDP, or about UAH 179 billion (as of 2021) due to smokers’ early loss of working capacity, social benefits and treatment of diseases caused by smoking.