Potential roles of school administrators and community-residing adults in tobacco use prevention in Nigerian college students: a viewpoint

Abstract

Tobacco use is a key risk factor for the development of non-communicable diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. On May 31 every year, World No Tobacco Day is celebrated to draw attention to the health risks and other risks related to tobacco use and to campaign for effective policies to minimize tobacco use. In this paper, we address important issues related to tobacco use, and highlight the potential roles of school administrators and community-residing adults in supporting college students in Nigeria in refraining from tobacco use. We argue that various stakeholders, including school administrators and community-residing adults, have important roles to play in providing community- and school-level support to college students to enable them to refrain from tobacco use. However, research is needed to empirically measure whether and how school administrators and community-residing adults have helped to reduce tobacco use in college students in Nigeria.