Manuel Franco
Head of International Relations at the Spanish Society of Public Health and Healthcare Administration (SESPAS), organiser of the 2026 European Public Health Conference (EUPHA), Ikerbasque Research Professor at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and professor and researcher at the universities of Alcalá and Johns Hopkins
Smoking remains one of the main causes of illness and death in Spain. The individual and social costs associated with smoking are extremely high. Epidemiological and public health knowledge is extensive and detailed, since we began to study and understand its consequences in the 1950s. In other words, more than 70 years of scientific evidence. I recommend this video from the British Medical Journal. Nowadays, smoking is only a benefit for the big tobacco companies that are quickly adapting their business to the new generations and getting out of the previous regulations.
The Integral Plan on Smoking in Spain proposes five fundamental and simple points that would be a breakthrough to reduce the disease burden of smoking in our country: prevention, help to quit smoking, reduction of exposure, research and coordination of control. The adoption of this plan would undoubtedly be an advance in health and well-being for our country and its citizens, regardless of their autonomous community of residence. In the most advanced countries in the world, these recommendations have already been implemented by governments of all ideologies.