FIP releases guide to aid pharmacists in the fight against tobacco

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) published a guide Dec. 16, highlighting the significant role pharmacists can play in reducing tobacco use.

Entitled "Establishing Tobacco-Free Communities: A Practical Guide for Pharmacists," the briefing document offers pharmacists ways they can tackle the global smoking epidemic through interventions, such as advocating for healthier lifestyles. It includes resources that can be used to determine an individual's dependence on nicotine and help them quit smoking. 

“With this document, we aim to further encourage pharmacists and their professional associations to invigorate open discussions on the value of tobacco cessation with their patients, communities, teams and collaborators," Mrudula Naidu, immediate past chair of the Young Pharmacists Group, a network within FIP that contributed to the guide, said.

Naidu then spoke to the active role pharmacists play in the smoking-cessation process.

“It is clear that pharmacist-led interventions can be pharmacological, including optimising treatment outcomes, or non-pharmacological," Naidu said. "Importantly, pharmacists are supporters and facilitators of the entire smoking cessation process; this is of huge value in providing much needed continuous support to people who have decided to be healthier.”

The World Health Organization says that tobacco consumption is one of the world's biggest threats to public health as it is responsible for killing approximately 6 million people each year with the majority of lives being lost due to the direct use of tobacco.