Background:
The secondhand smoke (SHS) awareness campaign held in Ukraine in summer 2019 aimed to raise awareness regarding the dangers of SHS exposure and to encourage activities able to diminish smoking in smoke-free zones.

Objectives:
This study measured the changes in smokers’ and non-smokers’ behaviors after the campaign.

Methods:
The surveys of representative samples of 2021 respondents before and 2035 after the campaign collected data on five key indicators: information coverage, awareness of SHS nature and impact, self-reported non-smokers’ behavior, smokers’ behavior, and non-smokers’ behavior reported by smokers.

Results:
The behavioral changes were seen in three major areas. 1.There was an increase in the proportion of self-reported active protests against smoking in smoke-free places, including making a comment to the smoker, posting a sign and reporting to the authorities. It was 30.2% in the post-campaign survey compared to 24.5% in the pre-campaign survey. 2.Smokers felt increased pressure from others when they smoked in the staircase of the house where they live (increased from 27.8% to 37.1%), at designated places at work (from 14.9% to 23.6%), in cafés, restaurants or bars (from 13.9% to 25.1%) and at the stops of public transport (from 11.5% to 23.6%). 3.The proportion of current smokers significantly decreased in those regions that were covered by the media campaign. Although no causal inference is possible with the available data, we see no change where no local activities were undertaken (28.5% before and after), a decrease is seen where outdoor billboards and indoor poster campaigns were conducted.

Conclusions:
Comparing the results from pre- and post-campaign surveys, there seems to be a trend emerging among the Ukrainian population for reacting in favour of introduced tobacco control measures, including media campaigns.