Author(s): Mulugeta Gobena, Senbata Wedajo and Sagni Girma
Introduction: Tobacco use kills millions of people Worldwide. Causing immense suffering and also has enormous economical social costs Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of cigarette smoking in Gida Ayana town population from October 1-April 1, 2017.
Methods and materials: The assessment was conducted by using community-based cross- sectional study on sample population by using systematic sampling method. The information was collected by interview of respondent using structured questionnaire.
Result: From the 317 studied individuals 40 (12.7%) are currently smoking, out of which 11.98% were males and 0.72% were females. The main reason to start smoking was complement to khat chewing and to enjoy pleasure events 18 (45%) and 9 (22.5%) respectively. Regarding to their ethnicity majority of the smokers are Oromo 26 (65%) and Amhara 10 (25%) respectively. Majority of the currently smoking individuals need to quit smoking but failed due to due to relieving distress when disappointed and the need to smoke while chewing khat. Most smokers are low in their socio-economic status. Majority of the people dislike smokers because of their smoking habit. For this, it is suggested that health education and counseling are important to help smokers make better decision.
