Smoking and Adolescence: International Public Health Experiences
Mazyanga L. Mazaba-Liwewe (Editor)
The Health Press, Zambia National Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, Lusaka, Zambia
Seter Siziya, PhD (Editor)
The Copperbelt University, School of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Public Health Unit, Ndola, Zambia
Joav Merrick, MD, MMedSci, DMSc, (Editor)
Medical Director, Health Services, Division for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, Jerusalem, Israel
Division of Adolescent Medicine, KY Children’s Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Jerusalem, Israel
Division of Pediatrics, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Centers, Mt Scopus Campus, Jerusalem, Israel
School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Series: Public Health: Practices, Methods and Policies
Smoking cigarettes starts during adolescence. Some adolescents may stop smoking cigarettes having taken it as an experiment during adolescence, but others may continue smoking into adulthood. Most adults who smoke started smoking during the adolescence stage and may have been already addicted to nicotine before the age of eighteen, resulting in long-term health consequences.
This book compiles and documents smoking epidemiology and correlates of smoking in adolescents in various regions of the world. It aims to provide critical information that relates to the magnitude of the problem and who is affected in order for strategies to be identified and implemented. The issue is a concern of public health, since smoking affects people not only at the time the smoking habit begins, but because it has an influence on them for the rest of an individual’s life.