The Progress of Tobacco Control Research in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Past 50 Years: A Systematic Review of the Design and Methods of the Studies

Hadii M. Mamudu, Pooja Subedi, Ali E. Alamin, Sreenivas P. Veeranki, Daniel Owusu, Amy Poole, Lazarous Mbulo, A.E. Ogwell Ouma and Adekunle Oke
Additional contact information
Hadii M. Mamudu: Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA
Pooja Subedi: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA
Ali E. Alamin: Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA
Sreenivas P. Veeranki: Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Daniel Owusu: Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (GSU TCORS), Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30340, USA
Amy Poole: Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA
Lazarous Mbulo: Global Tobacco Control Branch, Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
A.E. Ogwell Ouma: Tobacco Control Division, WHO Regional Office for Africa, P.O.Box 06 Brazzaville, Congo
Adekunle Oke: Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Over one billion of the world’s population are smokers, with increasing tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries. However, information about the methodology of studies on tobacco control is limited. We conducted a literature search to examine and evaluate the methodological designs of published tobacco research in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the past 50 years. The first phase was completed in 2015 using PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. An additional search was completed in February 2017 using PubMed. Only tobacco/smoking research in SSA countries with human subjects and published in English was selected. Out of 1796 articles, 447 met the inclusion criteria and were from 26 countries, 11 of which had one study each. Over half of the publications were from South Africa and Nigeria. The earliest publication was in 1968 and the highest number of publications was in 2014 ( n = 46). The majority of publications used quantitative methods (91.28%) and were cross-sectional (80.98%). The commonest data collection methods were self-administered questionnaires (38.53%), interviews (32.57%), and observation (20.41%). Around half of the studies were among adults and in urban settings. We conclud that SSA remains a “research desert” and needs more investment in tobacco control research and training.

Keywords: Sub-Sahara Africa; tobacco control research; methodological design; peer-reviewed publications; research desert; research capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2732/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2732/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:12:p:2732-:d:187604

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().