THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) has urged governments to include smoking cessation and treatment services as part of comprehensive tobacco control programmes, stressing that therapies for tobacco dependence can contribute substantially and immediately to health gains.
This call was made last week as WHO released its first policy recommendations for smoking cessation and the treatment of tobacco dependence at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health. The guidelines developed by world experts at a meeting in Moscow last year aim to provide countries with evidence-based material as part of WHO's support to countries wishing to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
The text of the FCTC recognises that tobacco products are designed to create and maintain dependence, and that many of their constituent compounds are toxic and can cause cancer. The FCTC requires signatories to develop evidence-based guidelines, appropriate to national circumstances, to promote cessation and provide adequate treatment for tobacco dependence.
Over 1.3 billion people currently smoke and more than 70 per cent of them are in low or middle income countries. Unless adult smokers are encouraged to quit, current statistics show that it will not be possible to reduce deaths from tobacco over the next 30 to 50 years.
"There is overwhelming evidence of the health benefits of quitting smoking, and the effectiveness of treating tobacco dependence, which is classified as a disorder," said Dr. Vera da Costa e Silva, WHO's director for tobacco control.
"However, the public health sector in many countries is not investing in smoking-cessation services, and in most countries only limited steps have been taken to provide treatment, train health-care providers, and release financial resources. Smoking cessation is very often not seen as a public health priority, or included in governments' control strategies," she said.
Because of tobacco's addictiveness, many smokers will need support to quit. Surveys show that about one-third of smokers try to quit every year; those who try to stop using will power alone have only a 1-3 per cent chance of long-term success.
