Stability Pact Partnership Project to Reduce Tobacco Dependence in the Region
Contries included:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Romania
Lead institution :
School of Public Health "Andrija Stampar", Croatia
Collaborators :
Main institutions involved in tobacco control in the region and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Head of the project :
Ivana Bozicevic, MD, MSc, MPH
Funding institution :
Open Society Institute, New York
Time frame :
January 2002- July 2004
Background to the project :
The World Health Organisation has identified smoking as the single most important preventable cause of death in Europe. However, this issue has not been addressed thoroughly in the South-East European countries, although rates from diseases attributable to smoking are much higher than in the most EU countries. Convincing governments to strongly back initiatives to encourage quitting requires strong scientific evidence that can reinforce the claims of short- and long-term benefits of smoking cessation for health care systems.
Goals of the project :
•
To reduce tobacco related death and disease in the Stability Pact countries
•
To draw international attention to the tobacco epidemic in the region
•
To support the countries to achieve health and economic gain through reduction in tobacco use
The aims of the project are to :
assess the current trend in tobacco use in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republic of Macedonia, Romania
identify existing data on prevalence and distribution of smoking in the population
identify the burden of disease attributable to smoking using Richard Peto's approach in each of Stability Pact countries and make lung cancer mortality projections for each of the country in next 10, 20 and 30 years
identify the model that can be used to identify the economic consequences of smoking to try to predict the potential human lives and money that can be saved if people quit smoking.
evaluate current anti-tobacco policies, particularly control of tobacco advertising
assess legislative measures in relation to the maximum tar content of cigarettes and on labelling of tobacco products with warning measures in the Stability Pact countries, as compared to the European Union policies on tobacco
assess smoking policies in the health care institutions across the region
find out existence of measures that can help people to stop smoking
assess the use of tobacco in the public places
propose measures to prevent tobacco addiction, particularly by working accross governmental sectors
highlight the effectiveness of cessation treatments and programs including hospital treatment, individual training, counselling programs and the growing range of pharmacological products to aid smoking cessation programs such as NRT
support and advocate the implementation of evidence-based treatment for tobacco dependence
communicate a health message to the public by media so that the public can receive information about dangers of smoking as well as information on counselling activities that can help smokers to quit smoking
Research methods :
In the first phase of the research, an extensive questionnaire will be developed in order to assess the key elements of the current policy response to smoking in the target countries. The questionnaire will highlight knowledge of the magnitude of the problem, the current public health response and sought details regarding the presence of a range of well known policy responses to smoking. The questionnaire will also seek to identify the extent to which media and non-governmental organizations have been involved with smoking prevention. In the second phase we will assess the availability of current statistics on burden of diseases to smoking, prevalence of smoking in the populations and ways for improving the information available.
The output of the project :
Regional policy document encompassing all the aims of the project, in the form of a strategy paper with proposed measures to reduce the burden of tobacco related illnesses, primarily based on the intersectoral collaboration accross governments and requirements for scientific and political commitment to address the problem.
