Youth E-cigarette Addiction in South Africa: Urgent Control Needed

Key points:

Seventeen percent of high school students in South Africa use e-cigarettes, with 38.3% using them daily. Eighty-eight percent of these students use e-cigarettes that contain nicotine.

A study by the University of Cape Town has found that teenagers are becoming seriously addicted to e-cigarettes, prompting calls for regulations to be put in place.

Researchers suggest starting with early education, implementing regulations to ban advertisements targeting teenagers, and setting age restrictions.

According to African News Agency on April 11th, public health researchers at the University of Cape Town are urging the government to swiftly pass the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Act as e-cigarette usage among South African youth reaches concerning new highs. The act aims to regulate e-cigarette products and protect South African youth from the rapidly escalating nicotine addiction crisis.

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Cape Town in collaboration with Utrecht University in the Netherlands was published in the eClinical Medicine journal of The Lancet. The study investigated 25,000 students from 52 fee-paying high schools in the country. Among the students surveyed, nearly 17% were current e-cigarette users, with 38.3% using them daily and over 50% using them more than four days a week. 88% of current users reported using products containing nicotine.

The study also investigated signs of addiction, showing that 47% of teenage e-cigarette users use them within one hour of waking up, which is a significant indicator of dependence. Additionally, 11.8% of respondents reported being unable to get through a school day without using e-cigarettes, and 24.9% admitted to feeling anxious or angry if they were unable to use e-cigarettes for an extended period of time.

Co-author of the study and researcher at the University of Cape Town's School of Economics, Samantha Filby, stated: "Tobacco control in South Africa has made progress, but the rapid growth of e-cigarette use among young people is a new public health challenge.

In order to address this crisis, researchers at the University of Cape Town suggest starting with early childhood education.

Dealing with the current crisis is possible, with the correct intervention measures starting by debunking the dangerous myth that e-cigarettes are safe.

Phil advocates for comprehensive education on the hazards of e-cigarettes starting from primary school, as well as providing tailored psychosocial support for those already addicted.

However, Philby warned that education alone is not enough to solve the problem. She pointed out, "What we need are regulations - banning advertisements targeting teenagers, implementing age restrictions to reduce appeal and access." The accessibility of e-cigarette products offered through popular delivery apps like Checkers Sixty60 and UberEats has exacerbated this challenge.