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Visibility and availability of single cigarettes around schools in four Latin American countries
    1. 1Centro de Informacion y Educacion para la Prevencion del Abuso de Drogas, Lima, Peru
    2. 2Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
    3. 3Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
    4. 4Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
    5. 5Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
    1. Correspondence to Dr Crawford Moodie; c.s.moodie{at}stir.ac.uk

    Abstract

    Introduction Single cigarette sales at tobacco-selling points of sale (POS) may promote smoking. We explored visibility and availability of single cigarettes in POS around schools in Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, countries where their sale is banned.

    Methods Between April and July 2023, an observational study was conducted at POS around high schools in urban and rural areas in Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. A sampling frame of schools was generated from public registries, with schools categorised according to their socioeconomic status and randomly selected within socioeconomic strata. A total of 2081 POS were surveyed based on their proximity to these randomly selected schools. Data were collected on the visibility of single cigarettes (any cigarette sticks or open cigarette packs on display and able to be seen by customers were coded as visible) and their availability (ie, whether singles were sold, whether visible or not).

    Results Single cigarettes were visible in 37.2% of POS and available in most (84.9%), with neighbourhood stores the primary source. In most (84.1%) POS with visible single cigarettes, they were displayed near candy or toys. Prices of the cheapest single cigarette sticks ranged from US$0.03 in Argentina to US$0.13 in Guatemala.

    Conclusion The findings indicate widespread availability of single cigarettes in four Latin American countries where their sale is banned. The low price of single cigarettes, and their proximity to candy/toys, may increase the appeal of smoking to youth. Stricter enforcement of bans on single cigarettes, which may serve as a gateway to experimentation and continued smoking, is needed.

    • Tobacco industry
    • Advertising and Promotion
    • Low/Middle income country
    • Social marketing
    • Public policy

    Data availability statement

    Data will be available for sharing, on reasonable request, when all planned articles are published or in August 2025.

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    Data availability statement

    Data will be available for sharing, on reasonable request, when all planned articles are published or in August 2025.

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    Footnotes

    • X @abeligar, @cathbest

    • Collaborators The REMAP Team comprises Raul Mejia, María Belén Arnaudo and Emilia Elicabe (CEDES, Argentina), Blanca Llorente (Fundación Anáas, Colombia), Attila Pohlmann and Daniela Valdivieso (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador), Joaquín Barnoya, Aiken Chew and Gustavo Dávila (Fundación Aldo Castañeda and Universidad Landivar, Guatemala), Inti Barrientos, Carlos Filiberto Miguel-Aguilar and Mariel Cristina Palacios (INSP, México), Alfonso Zavaleta, Eva Chanamé and Abel Limache-García (CEDRO, Perú), James Thrasher (Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina) and Crawford Moodie, Isabelle Uny, Catherine Best and Georgia Alexandrou (Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling).

    • Contributors EC, AL-G and AZ contributed to the conceptualisation, data collection, data analysis and interpretation and final revision of the manuscript. EC wrote the first draft of the manuscript. CM, JT and CB contributed to edits, interpretation and final revision of the manuscript. CM is responsible for the overall content as guarantor. REMAP Team: scientific advisors for the manuscript, collected data.

    • Funding This work is part of the ‘REmoving the MArketing Power of cigarettes’ (REMAP) project, funded by the Medical Research Council (MR/X004279/1).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.