‘Gradation of tools supporting the reduction of cigarette smoking – from the government policy to individual decisions’ is the title of the 2nd webinar of 2024, organised by SCOHRE, the International Association on Smoking Control & Harm Reduction, in collaboration with the Polish Society of Public Health.

Cigarette smoking has remained the main behavioural factor in premature death due to NCDs worldwide for many years. WHO reports that at least 8.1 million people around the world die from this cause every year. Including over a million second-hand smokers.

It seems that the commonly adopted ‘end game’ policy does not bring the expected result, most countries applying it very strictly have kept their statistics at a level of several to twenty percent of the smoking population. More and more countries are therefore looking for other solutions, the dominant ones being the combination of primary prevention with legislative and fiscal tools for primary prevention, early detection of cigarette-related diseases in early screening, and finally with harm reduction and prevention of severe complications. These countries are currently leaders in the effective fight against smoking addiction, and Sweden has recently been recognized as a ‘smoke-free country’ (less than 5% of the population smokes).

In addition to full, multi-stage and successively introduced prevention, effective anti-cigarette policy requires financial planning, for example due to the necessary changes in excise duty and value added tax, but also, at least initially, it needs significant expenditure on the development of a national programme for the prevention of cigarette smoking and of all diseases related to this risk factor.

This webinar, from the perspective of several countries, will present the assumptions of comprehensive, multi-stage prevention and will try to identify the basic factors of effectiveness at each level.

Agenda

•  Introduction and an overview of tools at several levels of smoking prevention and/or treatment – Prof. Andrzej Fal
•  The role of fiscal mechanisms in public health – Prof. David Sweanor
•  The need for continuous research and update of knowledge on various anti-cigarette policies and techniques. The role of primary prevention (health education) – Dr. Piotr Karniej
•  The role of medical specialists in guiding a smoking patient through the process of quitting smoking and harm reduction – Prof. Edward Franek
•  Health economics – how the next year’s country budget wins the battle against public health – Dr. Arkadi Sharkov

For more information and to register for the webinar, click here!