Résumé : |
This report describes the results of a survey of tobacco control activity in 35 European countries in 2016, using the Tobacco Control Scale, first described in our 2006 paper, The Tobacco Control
Scale: a new scale to measure country activity.
The data used for the 2016 survey refer to legislation in force on 1 January 2017, price data on 1 July 2016, and the tobacco control budget in 2015. Any legislation, price increases or funding introduced or enforced after those dates are not included.
The scale quantifies the implementation of tobacco control policies at country level, and is based on six policies described by the World Bank, which they say should be prioritised in a comprehensive tobacco control programme, namely:
- Price increases through higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products;
- Bans/restrictions on smoking in public and work places;
- Better consumer information, including public information campaigns, media coverage, and publicising research findings;
- Comprehensive bans on the advertising and promotion of all tobacco products, logos and brand names;
- Large, direct health warning labels on cigarette boxes and other tobacco products;
- Treatment to help dependent smokers stop, including increased access to medications.
The scale allocates points to each policy, with a maximum score of 100: price 30, smokefree public places 22, spending on public information campaigns 15, comprehensive advertising bans 13 large health warnings 10, cessation support (treatment) 10.
Headline results and issues:
- Six leading countries have 60 points or more, top score 81 out of 100 (UK).
- Ten countries are doing reasonably well with 50 to 56 points.
- The remaining 19 countries don’t even manage 50 points and need to do much more.
- Three countries had very low scores, with fewer than 40 points.
A major concern is the lack of funding for tobacco control. No country spends 2 euro per capita on tobacco control, with only Iceland coming close. The TCS scores for spending are extremely low and we are seeing reduced funding in several countries. The second major issue of concern is tobacco industry influence, which remains the largest obstacle to the introduction of effective tobacco control
policies. |