An Interventional Study to Assess the Impact of Health Education on Tobacco Chewing and Alcohol among School Students of Bagalkot City

Background Tobacco use has been identified as single largest risk factor attributable to Noncommunicable diseases. The per capita consumption of pure alcohol age 15 in India is estimated to be 5.2 litres per year. In 2010 the corresponding figure was 4.3 litres per year which was significantly higher than the average consumption in the South-East Asia Region 3.2 litres per year.Objectives To know the baseline knowledge and attitude of school children on tobacco consumption and alcohol and also to assess the impact of health education on the school students regarding the change in the lifestyle such as alcohol and tobacco consumption.Materials and Methods An interventional study over 7th and 8th standard school students in selected schools of Bagalkot city.Results Knowledge about ill effects of smoking Mean score increased from 1.12 to 1.54 chewing tobacco Mean score increased from 0.81 to 1.08 and increase in the knowledge regarding ill effects alcohol Mean score from 0.62 to 1.33 was found to increase significantly in post-test intervention group when compared to pre-test and is statistically significant.Conclusion There was improvement in the knowledge about ill effects of smoking tobacco and alcohol consumption.