Serious Violations of Tobacco Control Policy in Armenia

Since 2009, October 12th has been observed in Armenia as National “No Tobacco” Day. In September-October 2010, the Center for Health Services Research and Development of the American University of Armenia (AUA) conducted monitoring to assess the tobacco control policy implementation in Yerevan. This program is being implemented with support from the American Cancer Society, UK Cancer Research, and the Framework Convention Alliance.

According to the information from the Center for Health Services Research and Development of the AUA, the results of the current monitoring program in Yerevan suggest that serious problems exist in the implementation of tobacco control policy requiring appropriate solutions to protect all citizens of the RA from exposure to secondhand smoke of Camel and other cigarettes at worksites and public places. The research team visited randomly selected governmental, cultural, educational and health institutions to evaluate the compliance with the RA Law “On Restrictions of Tobacco Sales, Consumption and Use”.

During the first phase of the monitoring program, the observers visited 78 public state, cultural, educational and healthcare settings in Yerevan. The results of monitoring in Yerevan were the following: absence of a no-smoking sign was observed in 66.7% of the randomly selected state public institutions. Most often, the smoking ban was violated by citizens in state and educational institutions, 71.46% and 70.9%, correspondingly. The healthcare settings had the highest compliance with the smoking ban, however, in 57.7% direct or indirect signs of smoking violations were recorded. Similar violations were observed in 66.6% of cultural settings, predominantly Yerevan theatres.

The Center for Health Services Research and Development of the American University of Armenia has initiated a series of public meetings to discuss the program findings with the stakeholders and suggest possible solutions, and other events.