PATIOS (Pan American Tobacco Information Online System)

The Pan American Tobacco Information Online System (PATIOS) is a web based information system containing country-specific data on a wide variety of tobacco control topics. PATIOS provides a standardized and reliable tracking and assessment of the tobacco-related situation within and across countries, and disseminates this information to policy and decision-makers, staff of tobacco control programs, tobacco control advocates, researchers and media. The database covers 53 indicators on tobacco use and control policies in all PAHO American Member States. The database covers five main areas: health impact (including prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke), policy and legislation, economics, cessation, and planning and programming.

PATIOS main page

Ambient Nicotine Levels in the Americas

To support smoke-free policies in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health studied levels of environmental tobacco smoke in specific settings in Latin American and the Caribbean countries using a standardized methodology. The main results were published in a scientific paper Secondhand Tobacco Smoke in Public Places in Latin America, 2002-2003.

Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS)

The World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) began developing the Global Tobacco Surveillance System (GTSS) in 1999.  GTSS consists of four surveys.  The school-based surveys include:

• Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

• Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS)

• Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS)

The household-based surveys include:

• Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)