BMC Public Health 2008, 8(Suppl 1):S2 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/S1/S2 Introduction The Peruvian government has made tobacco control a priority public health issue. On November 30, 2004, Peru ratified the World Health Organization (WHO) Frame- work Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) [1]. On March 13, 2006, the Peruvian Congress passed Law 28705, “Law of Prevention and Control of Risks Associa- ted with Tobacco Consumption” [2]. Law 28705 entered into effect April 7, 2006. Prior to ratifying the WHO FCTC and passing Law 28705, the tobacco control effort in Peru had been restricted to efforts in individual cities, such as restrictions on the sale of tobacco to minors, and activities on tobacco control promoted in schools [3]. However, regulations on the sale of tobacco products to minors were not enforced and the school programs were not successful as the teachers had not been trained in effective teaching approaches regarding tobacco. The WHO FCTC was developed as a response to the global tobacco epidemic and is the world’s first public health treaty on tobacco control. Countries that ratify the WHO FCTC are encouraged to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation including, but not limited to: increasing tobacco taxes; protection from exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS); enacting comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and including health warning labels on tobacco packaging. Peru is working to implement laws and regulations to meet the obligations of the WHO FCTC and Law 28705 [2]. However, effective tobacco control policies in Peru must move beyond Law 28705 and focus on new policies related to: increasing taxes on tobacco; banning pro-tobacco advertising and promotion; development of cessation programs; and banning smoking in all indoor workplaces. Several studies have shown the variations in epidemiological indicators of use of tobacco, and the infrastructure for tobacco control in Peru and other countries of the region [4-8]. In 2002, the annual per capita consumption of tobacco for Peruvians was 1,849 cigarettes [3,9]. In 2003, of the general population (12 to 64 years), more than 75% of people had received an offer to smoke at some time in their life. The life prevalence of tobacco consumption was 63.4% and males consumed more tobacco (83.1%) than females (60.4%) [5,6]. In 2000, the prevalence of tobacco use in youths was 22% for males and 15% for females [10]. The tobacco market in Peru increased from 2001 to 2006, growing at an average annual rate of 4.6% [8]. A model proposed by Lopez and colleagues depicts the global impact of the evolving tobacco pandemic by combining surveillance data on smokers and several indicators of disease burden [4,11]. In stage 1, a country experiences a rather low prevalence of smoking, smoking is essentially limited to males, and there is relatively low disease burden. At present, many of the countries of sub- Saharan Africa are in this stage. Many of the low and middle income countries of Asia, North Africa, and Latin America fit a stage 2 pattern, with persistence of an excess of males among smokers, and with emergence of respiratory complications, cancer, and other tobacco attributable diseases. In stage 3, male and female preva- lence estimates converge, sometimes due to a concurrent decline of male smoking and an increase in the proportion of women among active smokers. Many of the countries of southern and eastern Europe are in this stage; deaths attributed to smoking comprise 10% to 30% of all deaths. The more established market economies of northern and western Europe, Australia, and North America are approaching or are in stage 4 of the Lopez and colleagues’ model. In this stage, there is a trend over time to a marked decline of smoking incidence and prevalence for both sexes; deaths attributed to smoking peak at 25% to 35% of all deaths, before beginning to decline [4]. The WHO FCTC calls for countries to establish programs for national, regional, and global surveillance. WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Canadian Public Health Association developed the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) to assist all 193 WHO member states in establishing tobacco control surveillance and monitoring [12]. The GTSS provides a flexible system that includes common data items but allows countries to include important unique informa- tion at their discretion. It also uses a common survey methodology, similar field procedures for data collection, and similar data management and processing techniques. The GTSS includes collection of data through three surveys: the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) for youth, and the Global School Personnel Survey and the Global Health Professional Survey for adults. The GYTS has been completed by over 2 million students in 140 countries [13]. In Peru, the GYTS has been implemented in four sites: Huancayo (2000, 2003), Lima (2000, 2003), Tarapoto (2000, 2003) and Trujillo (2000, 2003) [14,15]. The purpose of this paper is to use data from the GYTS conducted in Peru in 2000 and 2003 to set the baseline among youth for self-reported prevalence of tobacco use and smoking cessation, exposure to SHS and tobacco industry marketing, access to and availability of tobacco products, and school curricula teachings. Methods The GYTS is a school-based survey of defined geographic sites that can be countries, provinces, cities, or any other sampling frame, including subnational areas, non-member states, or territories. The GYTS uses a standardized Page 2 of 9 (page number not for citation puroposes)