Water Pipe as Growing Public Health Challenge Among School Children in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Introduction: The water pipe is a form of tobacco smoking that recently become very popular among youth in many countries all over the globe.

Aim: To highlight recent data collected through Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) 2019, related to knowledge, attitudes and behavior of school children and youth to water pipe consumption.

Methods: The GYTS questionnaire for the Federation of BiH 2019 contained 60 multiple-choice questions. The GYTS 2019 in the Federation of BiH was conducted in a total of 73 of the 75 sampled primary and secondary schools with a school response rate of 97.3%. From the 6,972 sampled students a total of 6,415 participated as eligible students in grades 8-9 of primary and 1^st grade of secondary school, with a response rate for students of 92.0%.

Results: Survey findings show that almost half (44.1%) of the school children confirm ever smoking the water pipe, while Current smoking of water pipe is confirmed by 16.1% school children.

Conclusion: There is a substantial need for implementing of systematic and inter sectorial tobacco control measures that involves a water pipe as new public health challenge among youth.