Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

Abstract #151826

Nadia Minian, PhD¹, Peter Selby, MD², Paul McDonald, PhD³, John Garcia, MSc¹, Michèle Harding⁴, and Tiiu Ambus, PhD⁴. (1) Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, 155 College Street, Unit 530, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada, 416.978.8137, nadia.minian@utoronto.ca, (2) Center for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2S1, Canada, (3) Health Studies and Gerontology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West., LHN, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada, (4) Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, Ministry of Health Promotion, 393 University Avenue, 21st Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 1E6, Canada

While tobacco prevalence rates in Ontario (Canada's most populous province) have dropped substantially over the last four decades, approximately 16% of Ontarians (15 and older) still smoke. The net tobacco related burden includes 44 deaths per day, about a third of all cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer), and excess health care costs of 1.7 billion annually. In an effort to reduce the health, social and economic burden associated with tobacco use, a Cessation Task Group (CTG) was formed within Ontario's Ministry of Health Promotion's (MHP) Community Action Working Group to propose an approach for assisting remaining smokers to quit, within the context of an overall Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy. After identifying and assessing evidence-based best practices, intervention and implementation priorities and component costs, CTG devised a strategy blending Wagner Chronic disease and Center for Disease Control's models to address tobacco use, composed of integrated components including: system policies to reduce tobacco markets; media-campaigns to motivate tobacco users to quit, use appropriate services and remain abstinent; programs and a screening system to improve tobacco users' access to appropriate behavioural, social, and pharmacological support; interventions to build capacity in the system; and research, evaluation, monitoring and surveillance to improve decision making and accountability. The system must be integrated, proactive and responsive, actively seeking-out and inviting smokers to use and benefit from a comprehensive range of interventions in order to reduce the burden associated with tobacco use.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how Ontario’s smoking cessation strategy came about and the challenges of building partnership across the system.
• Identify the different components of the proposed smoking cessation system and the process of determining intervention priorities, phasing of implementation steps; and the cost of system components.
• Discuss how the different components should work together to create synergy.
• Recognize the importance of integration, making the system more than just a long list of unconnected interventions.

Keywords: Tobacco Control, Tobacco Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.