The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) successfully holds a student centered tobacco control forum. The  purpose(s) for the forum that brought students from both public and private universities were

1. To sensitize the students on the dangers of tobacco use
2. To gain support for the enforcement of shisha ban
3.  And ultimately, to bring together students to deliberate on how they can be meaningfully engaged in the fight against tobacco.

For any success in tobacco control, there has to be a meaningful engagement of institutions of higher learning

This forum presented an opportunity for students to share experiences and engage each other. Although most students are aware of policies such as the ban on shisha use, it’s use among students is still alarming. Students have resulted to smoking the vice in hiding at wee hours of the morning. The alliance sees these continuous engagement with students and institutional administration as a vital step towards addressing the prevalence of tobacco use among students in institutions of higher learning.

Some of the outcomes from the forum included:

• There is need to involve students from the region in addressing tobacco control.
• There is need to engage students and institutions of higher learning in tobacco control at all levels.
• Learning institutions present a vital component when it comes to building the tobacco control knowledge base through research
• Student bodies play vital part in supporting the implementation of tobacco control policies such as the ban on shisha at institutional levels
• For Kenya to achieve substantial outcome in tobacco control, there has to be meaningful involvement of students.