EDITORIAL

Falling prevalence of smoking

Falling prevalence of smoking: how low can we go?

Simon Chapman

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor S Chapman
School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Edward Ford Building A27, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; sc@med.usyd.edu.au

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A sustained international initiative to fund major public awareness campaigns in nations that could never afford to run such campaigns would make a huge difference to nations in which such awareness remains rudimentary

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

How low might the prevalence of smoking fall in whole nations? Countries that have the lowest prevalence of smoking for both sexes combined are mostly those with strong cultural proscriptions against smoking by women. The NationMaster site (http://www.nationmaster.com), sourcing data from the World Health Organization, shows 44 nations where reported prevalence of smoking among women is <10%, 28 nations where it is <5% and 12 nations where it is <2% (Qatar reports that 0.5% women smoke). Very low smoking rates among women, which generally owe nothing to public health policies, can pull down the combined prevalence rate of smoking among men and women to levels well below those in nations where prevalence of smoking among women has been high, but has fallen. There are few, if any, strategic lessons for public health in examining most nations with very low prevalence of smoking among women . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Gartner, C E, Barendregt, J J, Hall, W D (2009). Predicting the future prevalence of cigarette smoking in Australia: how low can we go and by when?. Tobacco Control 18: 183-189 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Leistikow, B. N. (2008). LEISTIKOW RESPONDS. AJPH 98: 388-389 [Full Text]  

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