BMC Public Health 2008, 8(Suppl 1):S4 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/S1/S4 Table 2: Prevalence of factors influencing tobacco use among students aged 13 to 15 years by gender,Turkey Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 2003 Secondhand smoke exposure Exposure to smoking from others at home in the past 7 days Exposure to smoke in public places in the past 7 days Those who thought smoking should be banned in public places Pro-tobacco advertising exposure Exposure to advertisements for cigarettes on billboards in the past month Exposure to advertisements for cigarettes in newspapers or magazines in the past month Ownership of an object with a tobacco brand logo on it Access and availability of cigarettes to smokers Current smokers who usually bought their cigarettes in a store Current smokers who usually bought their cigarettes in a store who had never been refused purchase because of their young age Those ever been offered “free” cigarettes by a cigarette company representative Exposure to teaching in school the previous year about: Dangers of smoking tobacco Reasons why people their age smoke The effects of smoking CI, confidence interval. Prevalence % (95% CI) Male Total Female 81.6 (80.6-82.5) (n = 11,197) 80.6 (79.4-81.7) (n = 5,643) 82.7 (81.4-83.8) (n = 5,300) 85.9 (84.8-87.0) (n = 11,205) 85.3 (83.8-86.6) (n = 5,696) 86.9 (85.7-87.9) (n = 5,274) 91.4 (90.6-92.1) (n = 11,323) 89.6 (88.5-90.6) (n = 5,733) 94.0 (93.0-94.9) (n = 5,335) 33.4 (32.1-34.8) (n = 10,764) 34.4 (32.8-36.0) (n = 5,429) 32.1 (30.4-33.8) (n = 5,109) 27.9 (26.8-29.1) (n = 10,984) 29.9 (28.1-31.7) (n = 5,529) 25.1 (23.7-26.5) (n = 5,225) 10.1 (9.3-11.0) (n = 11,129) 12.4 (11.4-13.5) (n = 5,634) 6.7 (5.8-7.7) (n = 5,268) 46.5 (40.6-52.4) (n = 557) 48.9 (41.8-55.9) (n = 387) 38.4 (28.7-49.3) (n = 129) 86.4 (80.5-90.8) (n = 226) 88.0 (81.2-92.6) (n = 166) 82.7 (66.6-92.0) (n = 39) 7.6 (7.0-8.2) (n = 10,530) 9.1 (8.2-10.1) (n = 5,262) 5.6 (4.9-6.3) (n = 5,093) 52.8 (50.9-54.7) (n = 11,051) 52.7 (50.7-54.6) (n = 5,609) 53.3 (50.9-55.7) (n = 5,224) 21.1 (19.7-22.5) (n = 11,185) 21.3 (19.8-22.7) (n = 5,665) 20.5 (18.5-22.7) (n = 5,284) 40.1 (38.2-41.9) (n = 11,110) 39.4 (37.4-41.4) (n = 5,617) 41.4 (39.1-43.8) (n = 5,265) training in field procedures, and analysis of data, all of which are consistent across all survey sites). The GYTS provides indicators for measuring achievement of five WHO FCTC articles (namely, exposure to secondhand smoke, school-based tobacco control curricula, cessation, media and advertising, and minors’ access and availability to tobacco products) and results from the 2003 GYTS can be used to set baseline measures that can be used to monitor the five WHO FCTC articles, as discussed below. Article 8: protection from exposure to tobacco smoke Law 4207 calls for a ban on smoking in public places; however, the ban is limited to health care facilities, schools, theatres and cinemas, and some public transport (buses, trains, and domestic and international air trans- port) [3]. Results of the GYTS (2003) suggest that the vast majority of Turkish teenagers are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places. The MOH is now focusing on developing a proposal to amend Law 4207 to include provisions to prohibit the consumption of tobacco and tobacco products in additional public places. To assist in this effort, the GYTS data show that over 94% of never smokers and 64.1% of current smokers are in support of banning smoking in public places, with no significant difference by gender [6]. In a similar way, 81.6% of never smokers (slightly higher in girls versus boys) and 55.3% of current smokers (with no significant difference by gender) report that they believe passive smoking is harmful [6]. Article 12: education, communication, training and public awareness From the GYTS data, half of the students in Turkey reported that, during the past school year, they had been taught about the dangers of smoking and one-third had discussed reasons why people their age smoke. This information calls for the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based tobacco prevention curricula to be used in schools. The centralized education Page 5 of 7 (page number not for citation puroposes)