What the client needed
Adolescent tobacco use is a growing public health challenge in Zambia, yet the most recent nationally representative data are more than a decade old. Existing figures come mainly from school-based surveys that leave out younger, older and out-of-school adolescents.
Development Gateway needed up-to-date, representative evidence on tobacco and nicotine use among all adolescents, aligned to the multi-country DaYTA protocol, to inform national tobacco control.
How M31 Research delivered
M31 Research is managing the survey end to end, working with national statistical authorities and the Ministry of Health. A multi-stage, stratified cluster sample covers 175 enumeration areas in all ten provinces, targeting 3,486 adolescent interviews from roughly 15,845 screened households.
Household and adolescent questionnaires are programmed in SurveyCTO and translated into seven Zambian languages. Field teams are trained and competency-checked before deployment, and daily high-frequency checks, back-checks and GIS verification protect data quality. Parental consent, adolescent assent and IRB approval are in place, and survey weights with post-stratification to the 2022 Census ensure representative estimates.
What we delivered
- Household and adolescent questionnaires in SurveyCTO
- Translation into seven Zambian languages
- Household listing across 175 enumeration areas
- Nationwide CAPI data collection in all ten provinces
- Daily high-frequency checks, back-checks and GIS verification
- Weighted, cleaned datasets
- Inception, draft and final reports and a dissemination presentation
What changed for the client
The survey will give Zambia high-quality, up-to-date and nationally representative evidence on tobacco and nicotine use among adolescents, including groups missed by school-based surveys. The findings will support the Ministry of Health and policymakers in shaping tobacco control and prevention, and add to the regional DaYTA evidence base.
