Cigarette Selling and Buying by the Minor and Adolescents in Bangladesh: Prevalence, Perceptions and Awareness

Though there is a tendency among teenagers to not care about the adverse effect of tobacco but long-term smoking causes a serious problem in health. The objective of this study is to explore the prevalence, perception and awareness of minors and adolescents on cigarette selling and buying in Bangladesh. In this study, a quantitative oriented qualitative method has been used. The study reveals that overall 63% of the respondents are currently smoking. The proportion of smoking among the buyers is significantly higher (p<0.001) than sellers. A higher majority of the participants (93%) perceived that selling cigarette to minors is not good practice. A majority of the buyers (79%) and sellers (85%) have never been prevented from buying and selling cigarettes in the respective areas by any authorized personnel or even the general public. Majority of the respondents (86%) have no knowledge about any law on tobacco control in the country. About one quarter of the respondents (24%) perceived that the main causes of non-implementation of the law are the citizens' reluctance to obey and negligence of the concerned authority to implement the law. It also explores that a tendency to get rid of from frustration is the main reason to smoke tobacco. The findings suggest that an awareness building program should be launched by the government including NGOs, academic institutes and voluntary organizations to raise awareness on the bad effects of tobacco.