Commentary on Willemsen etal. (2013): Increasing demand for smoking cessation on a national level

摘要

Cigarette smoking remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality, claiming more than 5 million lives annually [1,2] and with enormous costs world-wide. There have been substantial gains in tobacco control efforts over the past few decades, as exemplified by the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative and Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, amongts innumerable international, national and regional efforts, but there is a considerably long road ahead [2]. One aspect of this effort involves reducing demand for tobacco, part of which means increasing demand for effective treatment [3-5]. An ongoing dialogue about possible determinants of demand seems essential. For this reason, the intention of this commentary is to highlight a few sources of demand for smoking treatment suggested by the study by Willemsen and colleagues [6] and elsewhere.