Anti-cigarette guide issued –

GENEVA (EFE).— The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday issued its first clinical treatment guide for quitting smoking, recommending four treatments after going through a prequalification phase: varenicline, bupropion, cytisine and nicotine replacement therapies (NRT).

Among these latter therapies, the WHO has indicated that the first recommendation is the use of certain nicotine gums and patches.

The organization also recommends the use of “behavioral interventions” that would include brief counseling sessions by health specialists (between 30 seconds and three minutes), but also more intensive sessions, both individual and in groups.

It opens the door to treatment through telephone consultations, text messages, cell phone applications and Internet programs, according to the guide specifically designed to guide health networks in WHO member countries.

“We encourage health service providers and other stakeholders to adopt and implement this guide in order to help people quit tobacco and improve the health of millions of people around the world,” the WHO said in a statement.

According to the UN health agency, more than 60% of the 1.25 billion smokers on the planet (i.e. more than 750 million people) want to quit smoking, but more than two-thirds of them lack access to effective systems to achieve this, partly due to the lack of resources in health networks.

“The immense struggle that many people face when trying to quit smoking cannot be underestimated; we need to value the effort and suffering that it takes for them to overcome this addiction,” said WHO director of health promotion, Rüdiger Krech.

According to the organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the new guide “marks a crucial point in the global battle against these dangerous products,” referring to tobacco and its derivatives.

The new recommendations “will provide countries with essential tools to effectively support individuals in quitting smoking and alleviate the high global cost of tobacco-related diseases,” he added.