On the way to a tobacco- and nicotine-free Switzerland
The Swiss Association for Tobacco Control is the center of competence for tobacco prevention in Switzerland. As an umbrella organization for the promotion of non-smoking, it today comprises over 50 organizational members. AT Switzerland offers its members a broad network of experts and provides expertise on tobacco control and prevention. With evidence-based offers and the networking of the central actors, it is committed to a sustainably healthy and smoke-free Switzerland and at the same time offers the population a hand in quitting smoking and nicotine withdrawal.
An important field of action is the denormalization of the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products. This is because a large part of the population still regards the consumption of lethal tobacco and nicotine products as "normal". Furthermore, the protection of young people is at the center of its work and AT Switzerland would like to encourage smokers on their way to quitting smoking. Finally, AT Switzerland is very concerned to strengthen the protection of the population from passive smoke.
21.11.2022 |News
The Netherlands: Public Smoke-free Environments
In the Netherlands, there has been significant increase of smoke-free environments, mostly at schoolyards, playgrounds, sports facilities, bus stops and municipal institutions. In the municipalities of Utrecht and Nieuwegein for example, 831 bus stops are now smoke-free.
Image: GGD GHOR Nederland
In a two-year program, 90% of the Dutch municipalities started policy and actions to ban smoking from public places, as part of the National Prevention Agreement. Other results have seen integrated plans for smoking cessation care and accessible stop smoking service. e.g., in GGD Fryslân the number of registrations for smoking cessation care increased dramatically. Working from a national focus towards a smoke-free environment, while considering local differences and needs, has been crucial to this programme’s’ success.
You can read how GGD GHOR approached the project in this fact sheet: https://mcusercontent.com/7d6351a339e0759bbf1ca6cea/files/21aff37d-f583-2182-be01-bccb8bb39cc3/EUPHA_factsheet_Rookvrije_Omgeving_10112022.pdf
The written abstract was published in the European Journal for Public Health, available at https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/32/Supplement_3/ckac129.035/6765607
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The call for smoke-free indoor environments is based on clear evidence of health damage caused by passive smoking. In Switzerland, too, scientific research has demonstrated the positive health effects of legal protection against passive smoking.