Geneva, Jul 2 (EFE).- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday issued its first clinical treatment guide for quitting smoking, recommending four of them following passing a prequalification phase: varenicline, bupropion, cytisine and nicotine replacement therapies (NRT).
Among these latter therapies, the WHO itself cited the use of certain nicotine gums and patches as the first recommendation.
At the same time, the WHO recommends the use of “behavioural interventions” that would include brief counselling sessions by health specialists (between 30 seconds and three minutes) but also more “intensive” sessions, both individual and in groups.
It also opens the door to this type of behavioural treatment through telephone consultations, text messages, mobile applications and internet programmes, according to a 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 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 once morest 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,” added the WHO chief.
#issues #clinical #treatment #recommendations #quitting #smoking
2024-07-04 17:29:09
