The college stage is one of the key periods for youth tobacco control. Studies have shown that about half of China's current smokers started smoking before the age of 20. A youth tobacco survey conducted in Beijing in 2021 showed that the current smoking rate of college students in the city is 7.1%, which is about 3.5 times that of high school students (2.0%). It is very necessary to strengthen tobacco control publicity among college students.

In order to further improve youth tobacco control and give full play to the advantages of rich resources of key universities in the capital, from July to October 2024, Beijing Municipal Health Commission and Beijing Patriotic Health Office launched the Tobacco Control Debate Invitational Tournament for College Students 2024. The event is co-organized by Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control and hosted by Communication University of China. 24 universities from 7 provinces and cities across the country, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, School of International Relations, Wuhan University, China University of Political Science and Law, etc., formed teams to participate in the competition.

After 24 round-robin matches and 4 elimination matches, four teams from China University of Political Science and Law and Nankai University won the competition. On October 20, the semi-finals and finals of the Tobacco Control Debate Invitational Tournament for College Students 2024 were held at Communication University of China. With its outstanding performance, the team of Communication University of China won the championship of this debate competition, which brought the tournament to a successful conclusion.

In recent years, Beijing has attached great importance to youth tobacco control. In 2024, Beijing promoted the establishment of tobacco control volunteer teams in the field of colleges and universities. So far, tobacco control volunteer services have covered 50 of the 97 colleges and universities in Beijing. Various colleges and universities have carried out 55 tobacco control theme publicity activities in various forms such as lectures, exhibition boards, and knowledge competitions, covering nearly 100,000 people. This event is an important part of the youth tobacco control publicity with the theme of "Smoke-free Growth for a Healthy Future" carried out in Beijing in the past two years. It is also a continuation of the 10th anniversary commemoration of the legislation of the "Beijing Smoking Control Regulations". In the next stage, Beijing will further strengthen youth tobacco control intervention work, continue to expand the scope of tobacco control volunteer services in colleges and universities, and encourage young groups to play a leading role, to protect more people from tobacco.