The effects of tobacco smoking expenditures on household basic needs in urban slums of Yaoundé, Cameroon

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the tobacco smoking status and cigarette expenditures among low, middle 
and high income households and to estimate the effects of tobacco smoking on basic needs across 
different income groups in urban slums of Yaoundé in Cameroon. 
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 372 households with 1,488 individual’s members aged 10-64 
years was conducted in twenty urban slums of two health districts in 2009. Cross tabulations and the 
ordinary least squares regression model were used to assess tobacco smoking status and the effects 
of tobacco smoking expenditures on basic needs between low, middle and high income smoking 
households. 
Results:  In urban slums, the majority (64.5%) of households surveyed were cigarette smoking 
households. The percentage of either income or expenditures allocates to cigarette smoking was higher 
(9.8% of income and 10.1% of expenditures) for low income households, following the middle income 
households (6.4% of income and 7.1 of expenditures) than for the high income households (4.2% of 
income and 5.8% of expenditures). The trends in cigarette expenditures were reflected in both the 
quantity of packs of cigarette smoked and the average price per pack paid by different income levels. 
Cigarette smoking by household’s members had an important opportunity cost by restricting the 
household limited budget available to spend on basic needs (food, water, housing, health care, 
clothing, electricity, transport, sport and leisure). Increasing cigarette price by raising tobacco tax rates 
would reduce consumption more among low income households than among high income households. 
Conclusion: The actual monthly expenditures on cigarettes against expenditures on basic needs shows 
that all income groups would significantly improved their livelihood if they do not spend any money on 
cigarettes. Any country specific tobacco taxation policy aiming to increase the price of cigarettes 
without any consideration for the changes in households’ income, might not be most effective in 
reducing cigarette smoking across different income groups. Government interventions from outside the 
health sector – specifically – in social protection, poverty reduction, urban planning and economic 
regulations have the potential to strengthen tobacco control in Cameroon.