Cigarette Prices and Smoking Experimentation in Sierra Leone: An Exploratory Study

Micheal Kofi Boachie; Mustapha Immurana; John Kwaku Agyemang; Hana Ross

doi:10.1177/1179173X221078189

Cigarette Prices and Smoking Experimentation in Sierra Leone: An Exploratory Study

Tob Use Insights. 2022 Feb 24:15:1179173X221078189. doi: 10.1177/1179173X221078189. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Micheal Kofi Boachie^{1

2}, Mustapha Immurana³, John Kwaku Agyemang^{4

5}, Hana Ross²

Affiliations

¹ SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA, Wits School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
³ Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences, PMB 31, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana.
⁴ Internal Audit Department, KNUST, PMB, Kumasi, Ghana.
⁵ Department of Health Policy, Management and Economics, School of Public Health, KNUST, PMB Kumasi, Ghana.

Abstract

This study examines the effect of cigarette prices on the likelihood of experimental smoking among adolescents in Sierra Leone. The study links data from the 2017 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) to price data covering 2008-2017 obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO). After employing duration analysis techniques, we find that increases in cigarette prices are associated with a lower probability of smoking experimentation, with an estimated price elasticity of -1.63 (CI: -.24 to -3.02). Other factors affecting an adolescent's decision to experiment with smoking are parental and friends' smoking status, gender, exposure to tobacco advertising, and income. We conclude that higher prices, through excise taxation, are important tools for controlling smoking uptake among the youth of Sierra Leone.

Keywords: cigarette experimentation; cigarette prices; duration analysis; elasticity; excise tax; tobacco use.