ITC Sudan Project Geoffrey T. Fong, Ph.D. Department of Psychology University of Waterloo

1. ITC Sudan Project Geoffrey T. Fong, Ph.D. Department of Psychology University of Waterloo ITC-TTURC Project Annual Meeting Portland, Oregon—March 1, 2008

2. Sudan—Background Information Population = 41,236,378 Income Group = LOW Tobacco Prevalence (2005): Adults: NO ADULT DATA AVAILABLE Youth (From GYTS): Males 18.0%; Females 10.1% FCTC Status: Signed Jun 10, 2004; Ratified Oct 31, 2005 FCTC Policies: – Warning Labels: U.S.style – Smoke Free: No law – Ad/Promo: “Complete ban”; Enforcement = 1/10

4. Sudan—Background Information Population = 41,236,378 Income Group = LOW Tobacco Prevalence (2005): Adults: NO ADULT DATA AVAILABLE Youth (From GYTS): Males 18.0%; Females 10.1% FCTC Status: Signed Jun 10, 2004; Ratified Oct 31, 2005 FCTC Policies: – Warning Labels: U.S.style – Smoke Free: No law – Ad/Promo: “Complete ban”; Enforcement = 1/10 – Price: $5.38/pack; 7%; Taxes = ???

5. Why Sudan? • First country in Africa • Highly divergent geographical regions: North vs. South • Low-income country, but with an excellent research centre (with strong connections globally) • No information on (adult) prevalence of tobacco use • Interesting mix of tobacco types: cigarettes, shisha, toombak

6. Major non-cigarette forms of tobacco use

7. Why Sudan? • First country in Africa • Highly divergent geographical regions: North vs. South • Low-income country, but with an excellent research centre (with strong connections globally) • No information on (adult) prevalence of tobacco use • Interesting mix of tobacco types: cigarettes, shisha, toombak • Women are predominant shisha smokers • Economic changes in Sudan: (1) greater interest from the industry in this market? (2) changes in smoking patterns over time • Sudan is a party to the FCTC: policies are being planned; opportunity to make direct contributions to the shape of those policies

8. ITC Sudan Survey • 6 sampling areas: 5 cities and surrounding urban areas: – Central: Khartoum – North: Red Sea State (Port Sudan) – East: Al Jazeera State (Wad Medani) – West: North Kurdofan State – South: Juba + Internally displaced persons camp (IDP) • In each area 500-600 tobacco users (cigarettes, shisha, toombak) and 200-300 non-users • Face-to-face interviewing; multistage cluster sampling design • Planned 10 minute short interview and 30-45 minute long interview; face-to-face • Full enumeration of households—>prevalence estimates • 3 annual survey waves

9. ITC Sudan Survey—Research Team • Epilab—Dr. Asma El Sony, Director (past President of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases—recipient of the Bloomberg Initiative’s research grants program funding)

10. ITC Sudan Survey—Funding • Currently seeking funding: need about $140K/year • Asma El Sony is optimistic about possibilities for funding – World Bank—>Sudan: $10,000 in first year – IDRC – DFID – Bloomberg

11. ITC Sudan Survey—Challenges • Very good team, with good record, but unclear about how the interviewing team will work with our challenging protocol: training and quality control will be critical • Literacy and comprehension issues with the population; need to pilot test the survey (probably multiple iterations) • Challenges of conducting surveys among some very poverty-stricken areas, including the IDP camps • Language issues (although the Sudan team members are quite fluent in English)