The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: contributions by fi ve Asian countries

Tobacco Control Laws of South Asian Countries: A Quantitative-Comparative Analysis of Compliance with FCTC and their Effects on Smoking Prevalence

Business & Economic Review ◽

10.22547/ber/12.4.5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 97-130

Author(s):

Muhammad Shahzad ◽

Anwar Shah ◽

Frank Joseph Chaloupka

Keyword(s):

World Health Organization ◽

Tobacco Control ◽

South Asian ◽

Smoking Prevalence ◽

World Health ◽

Prevalence Rates ◽

Asian Countries ◽

Control Laws ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization

Smoking has been the topic of research for long time. Scholars have written on this issue from different dimensions like revenue generation, employment creation, environmental and health hazards. However, it exposes a person to more than 400 carcinogenic chemicals, causing many detrimental diseases like lung cancer, coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke which kill more than 7 million people annually. Due to high smoking attributable mortality and morbidity; the World Health Organization (hereafter WHO) passed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (hereafter FCTC). WHO-FCTC stipulates certain obligatory rules for the control of smoking prevalence and tobacco hazards to its member states. This paper aimed to examine the compliance of tobacco control laws with the FCTC guidelines and their effects on smoking prevalence in South Asian countries. The work hypothesized that higher compliance of tobacco control laws with the WHO-FCTC rules reduces smoking prevalence. The study employed positivist approach using descriptive statistics to determine the role of compliance with tobacco control laws in controlling of smoking prevalence rates. The study used data from different sources like the official Gazette books, reports of the World Health Organization (WHO), website (tobacco control laws) of the campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, Our World in Data (OWID), population pyramid.net and The World Bank. We compared and contrasted the national laws governing tobacco control in South Asia with the WHO-FCTC guidelines to test our hypothesis. We constructed an overall compliance index for the countries. We found non-compliance with the FCTC proposed tax share and heterogeneities in tax rates among the countries to reduce the smoking prevalence rates. Bangladesh has attained the highest index score of 0.748 followed by Sri Lanka with 0.650 index score whereas, Nepal and India have the least scores on compliance. The least scores of India and Nepal go against our hypothesis

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S8-4 SMOKING CESSATION: THE NEGLECTED FIELD OF TOBACCO CONTROL IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

International Journal of Cardiology ◽

10.1016/s0167-5273(08)70329-2 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 122 ◽

pp. S11

Author(s):

Chi Pang Wen ◽

Min Kuang Tsai ◽

Shan Pou Tsai ◽

Po Huang Chiang ◽

Meng Chih Lee

Keyword(s):

Smoking Cessation ◽

Tobacco Control ◽

Asian Countries

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Sex Differences in Mass Media Preferences Across Four Asian Countries

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000054 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 186-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Malini Ratnasingam ◽

Lee Ellis

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Mass Media ◽

The United States ◽

Female Students ◽

The Internet ◽

Evolutionary Explanation ◽

Asian Countries ◽

The World ◽

Media Preferences

Background. Nearly all of the research on sex differences in mass media utilization has been based on samples from the United States and a few other Western countries. Aim. The present study examines sex differences in mass media utilization in four Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore). Methods. College students self-reported the frequency with which they accessed the following five mass media outlets: television dramas, televised news and documentaries, music, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet. Results. Two significant sex differences were found when participants from the four countries were considered as a whole: Women watched television dramas more than did men; and in Japan, female students listened to music more than did their male counterparts. Limitations. A wider array of mass media outlets could have been explored. Conclusions. Findings were largely consistent with results from studies conducted elsewhere in the world, particularly regarding sex differences in television drama viewing. A neurohormonal evolutionary explanation is offered for the basic findings.

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