International Tobacco Use Prevention Curriculum for Students

On behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), HHD developed and evaluated a curriculum for middle and high school students appropriate for both resource-rich and resource-poor countries. This curriculum is substantially different from traditional approaches that educate students about the dangers of tobacco and equip them with refusal skills.

These activities provide young people with media literacy skills to analyze and see through advertising practices that promote tobacco use to youth and others. Through the activities, they are encouraged to create tobacco-free school and community environments and to advocate for national policies that regulate against tobacco.

The cornerstone of this skills-based curriculum is the belief that youth involvement is critical, not only to prevent young people from starting to use tobacco, but also to enlist them as advocates in prevention. Through this curriculum, young people become familiar with evidence on effective prevention available through WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; in addition, they become engaged in local, national, and global advocacy efforts to prevent tobacco use.