The first ever health cost study on tobacco use in Africa is set to be conducted in Uganda to generate African based evidence on the economic cost of tobacco use that can be used to guide planning for health care, as well as support policy development and implementation of tobacco control strategies.
The study, commissioned by the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA), Ministry of Health Uganda and Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), will estimate the total health care cost of 6 key diseases attributable to tobacco use on the individual, family and government of Uganda.
According to the Principle Investigator, Dr. Baine Sebastian, the study will use the WHO Economics of Tobacco Toolkit 2011 which provides guidelines on estimating the economic costs of health effects of cigarette smoking. He says it is a cross-sectional study to be carried out in three purposively selected referral hospitals of Gulu in Northern Uganda, Mbarara in Western Uganda and Mulago, the National Referral Hospital in Uganda. He says the choice of the hospitals was drawn from the findings and recommendations of an unpublished formative research carried out prior to the finalization of the study proposal by the researchers.
Dr. Baine stressed that the study will focus on scientifically proven leading diseases which are attributable to tobacco use including; cancers (lung, stomach, oral-pharyngeal), diabetes, heart disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Accordingly, a team of nine Research Assistants are undergoing training in reparation for data collection. The training that is taking place at the CTCA offices in Kasangati is aimed at orienting the research team on the study methodology and procedures for data collection as well as giving them an overview of the burden of tobacco use globally and in Uganda.