ACCESSIBILITY TO CIGARETTES IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN AREAS OF MALANG, INDONESIA

Abstract

This observational study aimed to look at the density of retailers and accessability to cigarettes and to see the difference of such conditions between urban and suburban areas in five sub-districts in Malang Raya, East Java Province, Indonesia.  Trained data collectors walked through streets and alleys to map out retailer locations, conducted observations towards point of sale marketing, and interviewed shopkeepers.  This study used a web-based instrument to collect and to store the data in real-time.  The results found more than 1,921 cigarette retailers across the five sub-districts selected as study sites.  The most common type of shops cigarettes found were grocery stores (42.9%) and small shops (41.5%).  Approximately 70% of the retailers sold cigarettes in sticks which costed less than one US Dollar per stick.  As many as 41.4% of retailers sold cigarettes to children under the age of 18.  A total of 60.7% of retailers advertised cigarettes, with at least three cigarette advertisements found at points of sale.  The study result also shows the average cigarette-retailers density in the observed areas was 9.88 retailers per 1 square kilometer (km2) with the average of 16.92 retailers per km2 in urban area and 5.19 retailers per km2 in suburban area.  Cigarettes can also be accessed easily as they are available in sticks and at a very low price in both areas.