An Examination of the World Health Organization MPOWER Tobacco Control Indicators from a Gender Perspective in Antioquia, Colombia

Authors

  • Jennifer Marcela López Ríos Universidad de Antioquia-UdeA, Colombia
  • Isabel Cristina Scarinci University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States
  • Isabel C. Garcés-Palacio Universidad de Antioquia-UdeA, Colombia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14482/sun.39.02.155.821

Keywords:

Control and Sanitary Supervision of Tobacco-Derived Products, Consumption of Tobacco-Derived Products, Women’s health, Antioquia, Colombia, Legislation

Abstract

Objective: To examine women’s perceptions of the implementation and enforcement of the Colombian national tobacco legislation in Antioquia, Colombia through the lens of the MPOWER indicators, which is the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control guide.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of women over 18 years of age in the nine subregions of Antioquia using a multi-stage probabilistic sampling.

Results: Out of 4,383 women who participated in the study, only 35% were aware of Law 1335 with awareness being the highest among white and married participants with college degrees, who have private health insurance, or residents in middle and high socioeconomic status. The degree of implementation varied across subregions and participants perceived that monitoring tobacco consumption (M) and protecting the population from tobacco smoke (P) have high levels of implementation in Antioquia, while warnings about the dangers of tobacco use (W) and enforcing the prohibitions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship (E) are weak. In terms of offering help for quitting (O), only 8.5% of smokers or former smokers ever sought assistance from health professionals to quit smoking and, among those, only 2% received treatment covered by their health insurance plan.

Conclusions: Even though tobacco control legislation is established at the national level, its enforcement relies heavily on local strategies. In Antioquia, efforts should be placed on educational strategies regarding warnings of the harms associated with tobacco use, enforcement of advertising and promotion of tobacco products and provision of evidence-based tobacco cessation treatments.

Author Biographies

Jennifer Marcela López Ríos, Universidad de Antioquia-UdeA, Colombia

Jennifer Marcela López-Ríos. Master in Public Health, Health Administrator with emphasis in Health Services Management. Adjunct Professor in the Mental Health Research Group. School of Public Health, Universidad de Antioquia-UdeA.  E-mail: jennifer.lopez@udea.edu.co
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3629-9377. CvLAC: https://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0001564757

 

Isabel Cristina Scarinci, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States

Doctor and Master in Clinical Psychology, Master in Public Health. Adjunct Professor. Vice-Chair for Global and Rural Health Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Interim Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement. Senior Advisor for Globalization and Cancer O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States. E-mail: iscarinci@uabmc.edu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2337-3021

Isabel C. Garcés-Palacio, Universidad de Antioquia-UdeA, Colombia

. Doctor and Master in Public Health. Titular Professor of the School of Public Health Universidad de Antioquia, Epidemology Research Group. School of Public Health, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA. E-mail: icristina.garces@udea.edu.co ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2337-3021. CvLAC: https://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0001390954

 

Published

2023-09-18

How to Cite

López Ríos, J. M., Scarinci, I. C. ., & Garcés-Palacio, I. C. . (2023). An Examination of the World Health Organization MPOWER Tobacco Control Indicators from a Gender Perspective in Antioquia, Colombia. Salud Uninorte, 39(2), 419–442. https://doi.org/10.14482/sun.39.02.155.821

Issue

Section

Original Article