Curriculum Approach for Integrating Tobacco Control into the Teaching of Mental Health Sciences in Secondary Schools in the DRC

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been working to combat tobacco use globally for over a decade, establishing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). More than 190 countries worldwide have signed this convention, strengthening their domestic policies to reduce tobacco consumption and protect their populations from the harmful effects of this highly dangerous substance. Article 12 of the FCTC requires education, communication, training and public awareness on tobacco control. The application of this provision requires a didactic and pedagogical guidance tool based on evidence. The DRC, which joined on June 28, 2004 and ratified the said framework convention on June 28, 2005, and which adopted in October 2010 a ministerial decree with an educational policy through health warnings, had never had a curricular approach that would serve as a guide for training in tobacco control in the teaching of health sciences. Assessing the level of integration of tobacco control into health sciences education in the DRC is imperative in order to assess the impact of this policy, document current integration, and identify gaps with a view to considering the construction of a tobacco control curriculum in the DRC, as this exercise does not only pose technical problems. They are also philosophical, political, and social. According to De Landsheere (1992), the concept of curriculum (plural: curricula) is still not very common in French-speaking countries; the distinction between teaching program and curriculum is important. A curriculum is a set of planned actions to promote instruction. It includes the definition of teaching objectives, content, methods (including assessment), materials (including textbooks), and provisions for adequate teacher training. This is why, during our doctoral research, we addressed this question on “the curricular approach to tobacco control in the teaching of health sciences in the DRC”.