Purpose: To determine the prevalence of substance use among primary school pupils and out-of-school adolescents in Moshi rural district, northern Tanzania.
Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study focusing on primary school adolescents in standards 6 and 7 in Kahe rural community. We also conducted a population-based cross-sectional study among out-of-school adolescents in the same rural villages. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the school-based survey while for the out-of-school survey the questionnaire was administered in the households using trained interviewers.
Results: A total of 545 in-school and 668 out-of-school adolescents participated in the study. Of the 545 school adolescents, 45.4% were males and 56.6% females while for the out-of-school adolescents, 68.1% were males and 31.9% females. Of the school adolescents, more males than females reported being alcohol drinkers (16.7% versus 9.2%; odds ratio (OR) = 1.9, 95% CI, 1.17 - 3.29). The prevalence proportions of cigarette smoking were 26.2% for men and 15.5% for women while prevalence proportions of marijuana smoking were 4.1% for men and 3.0% for women. As for the out-of-school adolescents, the prevalence proportions of alcohol use were 26.2% for men and 15.5% for women. The prevalence proportions of cigarette smoking were 14.3% for men and 1.9% for women while the prevalence proportions of marijuana smoking were 1.5% for men and 1.4% for women.
Conclusions: Substance use among adolescents is very high suggesting the need for interventions in this rural population of Tanzania.