Abstract
The Saudi Arabia GHPSS Global Health Professional Students Survey assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking and other tobacco use, as well as it sheds the light on the role of health professional students and their school environment in prohibiting smoking. In addition to information about barriers of smoking cessation in health professional students such as early age of smoking, smoking urge especially within half to one hour of wake up, previous failed trials to tobacco cessation, and if they received help for tobacco cessation or not, insufficient knowledge of health professional students about smoking hazards and their inadequate training on tobacco cessation and it is treatment. It includes also attitude of health professionals towards tobacco cessation and anti-smoking campaign. Comparison also is made between health professional student's smokers and non smokers to Environmental Tobacco Exposures "negative smoking exposures" at home and outside home. The Saudi Arabia GHPSS is a Health Professional Students School based survey conducted for the studying year 2010-2011. A two stage sample design was used to produce representative data for Saudi Arabia. At the first stage a census was done for all health professional schools. At the second stage all health professional students within all schools were surveyed. All health professional students were eligible to participate in the survey. Health professional students were interviewed through using self administered questionnaires containing multiple choice questions. Data entered and analyzed using Epi info software. The response rate for schools was 100%, the response rate of health professional students reached 90.8% as most of them were willing to conduct the survey. The survey concludes that the prevalence of cigarettes and shisha smoking is considerably high in Saudi Arabia's health professionals students especially among dental and pharmacy students and among males compared to females. It also concludes that the National Saudi Tobacco Control Program apparently working effectively, but still program activities needs to be intensified further to reduce smoking in health professional students especially nurses and physicians because of their great role in advising and treatment of smokers patients. [Abdullah M. Al-Bedah, Jamal A. Basahi, Samar S. Ahmed and Nadia A. Mohamed. Saudi Arabia Global Health Professional Students Tobacco Survey 2010-2011. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):5357-5368] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 796