Members of the national steering committee for tobacco control in Ghana were interviewed on various aspects of the FCTC as part of a larger study investigating smoking prevalence, tobacco control and tobacco industry activity in Ghana [11 (link)]. All 28 members of the committee were contacted initially by telephone to book an appointment for the interview. Face to face interviews were then carried out with consenting individuals using a semi-structured interview guide (see Appendix 1). Interviews were conducted in English, and covered current and potential policies for tobacco control in Ghana, awareness of the FCTC, specific achievements resulting from the FCTC, and the challenges, if any, of implementing the key elements of the FCTC. The latter included price and tax measures, protection from tobacco smoke exposure, regulation of tobacco product disclosure, packaging and labelling of tobacco products, education, communication, training and public awareness (media campaigns), demand reduction measures concerning tobacco dependence and cessation services, illicit trade, sales to and by minors, provision of support for viable alternative livelihoods, and research, surveillance, and exchange of information. Interviews were carried out between January and May 2008, and normally lasted between 45-60 minutes. All interviews were audio-recorded using a digital voice audio-recorder and transcribed verbatim by the researcher. The study was approved by the committee for human research and ethics of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana as well as the local ethics committee of the University of Nottingham, UK.
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