Global Health Programs: Global Tobacco Control

Objective

The Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) aims to enhance country capacity to design, implement and evaluate tobacco control interventions, monitor key articles of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and components of the WHO MPOWER technical package.

Program Description

The GTSS includes the collection of data through four surveys: The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS); the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS); the Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) and the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).

The GYTS focuses on youth aged 13-15 and collects information in schools. The GSPS surveys teachers and administrators from the same schools that participate in the GYTS. The GHPSS focuses on 3rd year students pursuing degrees in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy. The GATS, launched in 2007, is the newest component of GTSS. It is designed to produce national and sub-national estimates on tobacco use, exposure to second-hand smoke, and quit attempts among adults, and to indirectly measure the impact of tobacco control and prevention initiatives. GATS is a nationally representative household survey of all non-institutionalized men and women age 15 years and older using a standard and consistent protocol. Data for this survey are collected by means of a face-to-face interview using electronic data collection.

Public Health Impact

• GTSS provides an efficient and systematic surveillance mechanism to monitor the tobacco epidemic – one of the essential components of a comprehensive tobacco control program.
• GTSS has increased country capacity for monitoring and surveillance.
• GTSS has increased country capacity to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive tobacco control efforts.
• GTSS has increased sustainability for global tobacco surveillance by working with national and international survey initiatives to include standard tobacco questions.

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