Dr Martin Raw Special Lecturer, UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, University of Nottingham
Abstract
Guidelines for the implementation of Article 14 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, adopted in 2010, outline recommendations for the key characteristics of national guidelines and treatment systems. This talk reports the key findings of a survey we conducted in 2012 of 166 countries, of whom 121 (73%) responded. The papers are in press in Addiction. Fewer than half had a government official responsible for treatment (41%), an official national treatment strategy (44%), or provided tobacco cessation support for health workers (46%). More than half (56%) encouraged brief advice in existing healthcare services, whilst only 36% had quitlines and only 17% had treatment support covering the whole country. Low and middle-income countries had less treatment provision than high-income countries. Fifty three countries (44%) had national guidelines, ranging from 75% in high-income countries to 11% in low-income countries.
Nearly all guidelines recommended brief advice (93%), intensive specialist support (96%), and medications (93%), while 66% recommended quitlines. Just over half (57%) had a dissemination strategy, 76% stated funding source and 68% had professional endorsement. We conclude that offering support to tobacco users who wish to stop is not yet a priority for most countries in the world.
Source of funding: Society for the Study of Addiction, Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Declaration of interest: I do not accept funding from the manufacturers of stop smoking medications. My funding since 2008 is from: Society for the Study of Addiction, Roswell Park Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centre, SRNT, FCA, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Global Bridges.
