Pakistan needs to provide affordable smoking cessation services, say experts

KARACHI: Pakistan needs to provide effective and affordable smoking cessation services and make tobacco harm reduction part of the national policy, said a panel of experts on Monday.

This consensus was reached at a consultation on the situation and role of tobacco harm reduction in addressing the problem of combustible smoking in Pakistan. The consultation session was arranged by the Alternative Research Initiative (ARI).

ARI is working on ending combustible smoking in a generation. It has established Pakistan Alliance for Nicotine and Tobacco Harm Reduction (PANTHR). While remaining committed to and supporting tobacco control efforts in Pakistan, especially Article 14 of FCTC, PANTHR serves as a platform for advocating and promoting all innovative solutions for ending smoking whether counselling, NRTs, or harm reduction.

The participants were informed that Pakistan is facing a heavy burden of disease because of combustible smoking, with more than 25 million users of tobacco in the country. Some estimates say the number of tobacco users has reached 29 million. The total cost of all smoking-attributable to diseases and deaths in 2019 in Pakistan was $3.85 billion.

The consultation was told that tobacco harm reduction works as almost all of the disease risk attributable to smoking arises from the smoke: the particles of tar and toxic gases that are inhaled from burning tobacco. If smokers can find satisfactory alternatives to cigarettes that do not involve combustion but do provide nicotine, then they would avoid almost all of the disease risks.

The participants regretted that smokers’ concerns have been ignored in Pakistan’s tobacco control efforts. Smokers in Pakistan are on their own when it comes to quitting smoking. If they decide to give up smoking, they don’t know where they should seek assistance. That is why less than 3 per cent of smokers successfully quit smoking in a year in Pakistan.

The speakers maintained that a smoke-free Pakistan is possible to achieve before 2030 provided the country ensures effective cessation services are accessible and affordable, and the tobacco harm reduction is made part of the national tobacco control policy. The participants also called for sensibly regulating innovative tobacco harm products in Pakistan.