7%) were females, 832 (66.0%) of which were primary school teachers with mean age of 39.34±9.02 years and working experience of 13.36±8.82 years. The results of this study show that 3.2% of school teachers in Botswana reported that they were current smokers, while 5.3% were ex-smokers Receptor Tyrosine Kinase and

91.5% have never smoked. The results of the current study, as indicated in Table 1, reveal that gender was significantly associated with smoking among school teachers. The prevalence of smoking among female teachers (0.4%) was substantial lower than of their male counterpart (10.8%), p<0.001. Marital status was significantly associated with tobacco smoking (p=0.001). School level has also been positively associated with tobacco smoking among teachers. Majority of smokers were 30 years or less. Age and length of employment were

not significantly associated with tobacco smoking. Table 1 Prevalence of tobacco smoking among teachers in Botswana Discussion About 3.2% of teachers in this study reported that they were smokers. This prevalence is relatively lower compared to results of other studies that have been carried out around the world. Supporting this are the results of studies from Kingdom of Bahrain and Kenya in which prevalence of smoking among Bahraini and Kenyan teachers were 7% for each [13,14]. As shown on Table 2, quite similar findings were found in studies conducted among Malay and Yemen teachers where 7.8% and 8% prevalence were reported, respectively [9]. Similarly high prevalence of tobacco smoking has been reported among school teachers around the world. A study of school teachers in India, for example, found that 14.5% of primary school teachers where smokers [15] while in Bangladesh prevalence of tobacco smoking among secondary school teachers was 17% [16] and 17.8% in Sousse, Tunisia [17]. Furthermore, another study of Malay secondary school teachers in Kelantan found that 20% are smokers [18]. A much higher

prevalence was reported in a study from Tunisian Sahel which found that 29.3% of school teachers smoked [19] and 29.7% of primary and secondary Spanish teachers were smokers [20]. The highest smoking prevalence (58.1%) has been reported by Turkish primary teachers. In the same study, 36.1% teachers reported that they were ex-smokers whilst 5.8% had never smoked [21]. A similar smoking prevalence (52.1%) was reported among Syrian male primary and secondary school teachers [22], whilst in Malaysia, 40.6% secondary school teachers were smokers [23]. Drug_discovery Table 2 Prevalence of smoking among school teachers reported from international studies The low smoking prevalence among Botswana teachers can be, perhaps, attributed to a general non acceptance of smoking in the country, generally. The prevalence of any tobacco smoking and cigarette smoking in Botswana as of 2011 was 17% and 13% respectively [24]. Low prevalence of smoking in Botswana could also be attributed to tobacco control measures that have been put in place in the country.