Tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS) in Ethiopia : A scoping review and narrative synthesis

Background: Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS), has been shown to increase tobacco use in both adults and young people. In Ethiopia, TAPS is recognized as a top priority for the government, and all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion as well as sponsorship are prohibited. There is recognition that there are gaps in the evidence needed to inform policy and practice on TAPS, but the extent and nature of these gaps have not been explored. This review was aimed to understand the extent, and nature of the evidence gaps on TAPS in Ethiopia and identify primary research priorities to inform future research direction. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in February 2022 in the following research databases: Medline, EMBASE, and PsycInfo. Two reviewers independently screened the study reports for eligibility and extracted data from the eligible studies. The extracted data was collated and summarized descriptively, and policy, practice, and research recommendations were drawn. Research topics on TAPS in Ethiopia that stakeholders perceived to be priorities for primary research were identified through a consultation workshop. Results: Overall, 579 research reports were identified, and only six studies were included in the scoping review. The included studies explored the following topics: the use of tobacco imagery in movies/films (two studies); the association between mass media exposure or home internet access and tobacco use (two studies), watching of televised football and tobacco smoking in adolescents (one study), exposure to point-of-sale advertising of tobacco products and daily occurrence of smoking or second-hand smoke exposure in the home among women (one study), and exposure to anti-smoking messages through mass media and disparities in risk perceptions across socioeconomic and urban-rural subgroups (one study). None of the included studies investigated tobacco-related sponsorship. The top research priority topics identified by stakeholders in Ethiopia were: 1) barriers and facilitators to TAPS policy implementation, enforcement, and compliance monitoring; and 2) developing and testing effective, low-cost, and scalable strategies for TAPS enforcement and compliance monitoring. Conclusions: There is a need for research evidence to inform policy and practice on TAPS in Ethiopia, particularly on barriers and facilitators to TAPS policy implementation, enforcement, and compliance monitoring; and effective, low-cost, and scalable strategies for TAPS enforcement and compliance monitoring.