Smoke Free Sweden Celebrates Swedish Success
MEPs got a first-hand look at the Swedish success story as the country marked its last World No Tobacco Day before becoming Smoke Free
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by Dave Cross
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Sweden’s smoking rates are set to drop below 5% in the coming months. This is the level below which the country will be considered officially ‘Smoke-free’. No other country in the European Union is even close to replicating this achievement and none are currently on track to even achieve it by the EU’s target of 2040, in 17 years’ time.
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Sweden's impending achievement of a 'smoke-free' status sets the bar for what is possible in public health with strategic policies. World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity to recognise the remarkable progress that has been made in creating a smoke-free society”, said Dr Delon Human, a former adviser to three WHO Directors-General and to the UN Secretary-General on global public health strategies and leader of the Smoke Free Sweden initiative.
The country’s ground-breaking strategy to minimise the harmful effects of tobacco smoking and save lives is detailed in a recent report entitled “The Swedish Experience: A roadmap for a Smoke Free society”, which underscores the importance of sensible harm reduction policies, in addition to traditional tobacco control.
Key MEPs have been sent the report, with the hope that the science that underpins it will also allow for better policymaking when it comes to less harmful alternatives to tobacco.
“Sweden's approach to tobacco control is more than a case study, it's a playbook for change", said Dr Human.
“I hope that this report can serve as a scientific cornerstone for MEPs to draft policies that embrace less harmful alternatives to tobacco, ultimately protecting public health and saving countless lives in the process."
The full report is available here: https://smokefreesweden.org/
Smoke Free Sweden is a campaign which encourages other countries to follow the Swedish model when it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction.
Photo Credit:
Photo by Mark König on Unsplash
Article images from Smoke Free Sweden
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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