Sam Lister
The Times
06/11/2010
Of all the big visions for a healthier world set out at Cheltenham this week, none is arguably more pressing than that set out by Ok Pannenborg (above), who stepped down from his role as chief health adviser at the World Bank in March. Pannenborg’s public health theme was smoking, and in an interview with The Times he underlined the importance of winning over politicians (particuarly in the developing world) not simply to the public health benefits, but the compelling economic case for reducing smoking rates.
What is missing, he warns, is proper, robust study of the financial implications on a country by country level – from tobacco’s agricultural income to hospital admissions. The case for politicians to act would be far greater, and far easier to implement, were this evidence to be placed before them. The analysis is far too generic, too sweeping – and should instead be conducted on a evidential level in keeping with the legacy of the great British epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll. The British Medical Journal paper on smoking, published this week, is just such a start – showing the possible association between a marked decrease in the number of people taken to hospital with heart attacks and the introduction of the smoking ban.
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