Dear editor: Currently, at the global level, tobacco consumption is the biggest public health challenge, killing over seven million people, 80% of whom are from low- and middle- income countries.¹ An alarming finding is the consumption among adolescents, with an important percentage under the age 18.² Due to this, from 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) established measures focused on the reduction and control of tobacco consumption, included in the MPOWER strategy.^1,3

MPOWER adopts the following measures: monitoring about tobacco use and prevention strategies; protecting people from tobacco smoke; offering help to quit tobacco use; warning about the dangers of tobacco; enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and raising taxes on tobacco.³ Of these, MPOWER component E reduces tobacco use approximately 7%, becoming one of the measures that generates greater consumption reduction.¹

As part of the World No Tobacco Day, a survey was realized among 118 high school students from the north of the country, using four questions about the perception of advertising and promotion of tobacco of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).⁴ The statistical analysis under Stata v.14.0 program found that 72.88% had received at least one activity related to the promotion of cigarettes (table I). Also 66.9% had seen tobacco advertising posters in commercial establishments. Regarding anti-tobacco advertising, it was found that only 46.6% observed this type of information in newspapers or magazines, while 42.4% saw it on TV.

In Peru, the prevalence of tobacco consumption among youth was 9.7% in 2014, an amount that has not changed significantly to this day, and which compared to 2007 decreased by approximately 10%.^5,6

The percentages indicate that there is a wide perception of cigarette promotion activities and a low perception of anti-tobacco activities, so it is expected that the suggestions of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be put in practice.