Objective: To evaluate the content of school
textbooks as a tool to prevent tobacco use in
developing countries.
Design: Content analysis was used to evaluate if the
textbooks incorporated the following five core
components recommended by the WHO:
(1) consequences of tobacco use; (2) social norms;
(3) reasons to use tobacco; (4) social influences and
(5) resistance and life skills.
Setting: Nine developing countries: Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Benin, Ghana, Niger
and Zambia.
Textbooks analysed: Of 474 textbooks for primary
and junior secondary schools in nine developing
countries, 41 were selected which contained
descriptions about tobacco use prevention.
Results: Of the 41 textbooks, the consequences of
tobacco use component was covered in 30 textbooks
(73.2%) and the social norms component was covered
in 19 (46.3%). The other three components were
described in less than 20% of the textbooks.
Conclusions: A rather limited number of school
textbooks in developing countries contained
descriptions of prevention of tobacco use, but they did
not fully cover the core components for tobacco use
prevention. The chance of tobacco prevention
education should be seized by improving the content
of school textbooks.