The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) is designed to monitor adult tobacco use and track a broad range of key tobacco control indicators at the country level. As a surveillance tool, GATS enhances a country's capacity to design, implement and evaluate tobacco control programs.

Equally importantly, GATS provides data to highlight the extent of tobacco use in the country and draw attention to the need for action. GATS is conducted and published in each country by government agencies, usually the Department of Health.

GATS is a nationally representative survey that tracks respondents' tobacco use (smoking and smokeless), cessation, second-hand smoke exposure, economics, exposure to tobacco advertising and promotion, and knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards tobacco use.

It also assists countries in fulfilling their obligations under the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to generate comparable data within and across countries.

To assist governments in participating countries with the dissemination of GATS results, the following materials are available: 

• Global Adult Tobacco  Survey (GATS) Data Dissemination Guidance for the Initial Release of Data: A guide for the Ministry of Health and others responsible for GATS data collection, analysis and dissemination. It provides guidance on the initial release of GATS data.
• A Powerpoint slide template for the presentation of GATS results (originally created by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health) and instructions on how to customize it.

To assist non-governmental organizations with the use of GATS results, the following materials are available: 

• Using GATS Data to Strengthen Tobacco Control Efforts: Guidance for Tobacco Control Advocates
• A  report by PROGGA,  a non-profit organization in Bangladesh,  on activities they conducted to disseminate GATS Bangladesh Data 2009.
• Fact sheet overview template
• GATS Topics Fact Sheets template 
• Media release template
• Letter to the editor template
• Opinion article template
• A guide to working with the media

For additional information about GATS or to obtain a copy of the survey, methods, or results from several countries, visit the CDC Web site.