Tobacco sales, advertising and promotion near the schools in Kazakhstan

Introduction The target of this study is to evaluate sales, advertisement and promotion of tobacco products in points of sale near the schools of Kazakhstan. Methods 325 points of sale, located in five-minute walking distance from a school, were analyzed through mystery shopper approach by six trained investigators in May 2018. These points were located around 170 schools of the following cities: Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda, Ust'-Kamenogorsk, Aktobe and Kostanay. Special app developed by “Tiny Targets: Big tobacco”1 campaign was used to measure the distance from schools and shops, and to collect the information. Results Almost all shopping points (97%) provide tobacco products for customers. The most widespread forms of advertisement and promotion of cigarettes are posters (77% ) and placement near sweets and toys (56%). Despite the establishment of policies, almost 30% of shops provide single sale of cigarettes and some points utilize banned promotion methods such as a present for a purchase, sweet and toys in form of cigarettes, the presence of tobacco tradesman. Two out of three shops offer flavoured tobacco products with a diverse range of tastes and 42% of analyzed spots place tobacco products at the eye-level of a child. Conclusion This study figured out that despite certain legislative measures there are high accessibility, extensive sales and aggressive promotion of tobacco products at points of sales targeted for school-year children of Kazakhstan. Particularly, there is high access to single sticks cigarettes’ sale and heavy exposure to tobacco advertisements at points of sale near the schools