PESHAWAR: Two studies are being conducted by the Khyber Medical University (KMU) to assess the the impact of smokeless tobacco and prevention of uptake among citizens, especially youth, a local media outlet reported on Saturday.
A press release said that the projects, titled “Smokeless Tobacco Control in Pakistan (STOP)” and “Addressing Smokeless Tobacco Use and Building Research Capacity in South Asia (ASTRA)” have been funded by UK and Germany based organisations and is in accordance with WHO’s (World Health Organisation) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control.
The Leibniz Institute of Prevention Research and Epidemiology is a collaborative partner for the STOP project while the ASTRA project is being undertaken in cooperation with 11 universities from the UK, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, with funding provided by the National Institute of Health Research, UK.
Professor Hajo Zeeb from the University of Bremen is the primary investigator on the STOP project while Professor Kamran Siddiqui from the University of York is the director of the ASTRA consortium.
Pakistan’s Agha Khan University is also collaborating on the ASTRA project.
The STOP study in Pakistan will be led by KMU’s Director Research Dr Zohaib Khan with the aim of studying actors such as sellers, farmers and raw tobacco dealers in the smokeless tobacco supply chain to see if WHO guidelines are being followed and develop policies for better implementation.
On the other hand, the ASTRA project will study the prevention of uptake of smokeless tobacco among youth/adults and test behavioural/medical interventions that can help cessation of smokeless tobacco.
An important element of the study is that it aims to promote and enhance research capacities in Pakistan and other South Asian countries.
