South Africa Has An Emerging Youth Vaping Crisis

South Africa faces an epidemic of children addicted to vaping, a problem that has mushroomed in a vacuum of legislation controlling who has access to the products, which are marketed as a safe and cool lifestyle trend.

The reality of this nascent epidemic has been highlighted for the first time in the largest study of its kind by researchers at the University of Cape Town and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, which surveyed 26000 learners in 54 schools across eight provinces North West schools did not give permission during 2023.

The study, recently published in The Lancets eClinical Medicine journal , used the responses of 25 149 grade eight to 12 learners and found 16.83 admitted to currently vaping.

Approximately 36 of learners in the sample reported that they had tried vaping, 2 said they had used tobacco cigarettes and the use of cannabis and hookah pipes was reported by 5 and 3 of respondents, respectively.

Nationally, rates of vaping ranged from 4 to 31 by school and increased with each grade.