The Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC), through the Programme of Preventive Activities and Health Promotion, PAPPS, and the Tobacco Control Group, is in favour of promoting all measures aimed at reducing the consumption of tobacco and its derivatives, as well as protecting the health of the population through a new Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking (PIT) 2024-2027.
Strategies aimed at increasing the price of tobacco by raising taxes, as well as banning smoking and vaping in certain outdoor community and social spaces, and in private spaces in the presence of minors, could be a significant step towards tackling a major public health problem. Similarly, from semFYC we want to emphasise the importance of expanding access to all evidence-supported treatments that help people to quit smoking.
From semFYC we hope that the autonomous communities will also promote initiatives aimed at tackling this major public health problem, without allowing political interests to hinder their progress towards improving public health.
From the semFYC we want to focus on the need that, as a society, we now have to update strategies for the prevention and control of smoking, as family doctors observe a decrease in the perception of the risk associated with smoking among young people, in many cases, linked to forms of consumption such as vaping, bongs or e-cigarettes. We consider it crucial to regulate these forms of consumption, which have become the main method of initiation to tobacco use among adolescents. According to surveys, nearly 50% of under-17s have experimented with vaping, compared to 38% who have tried cigarettes.
We at semFYC believe that it is essential to reach a broad social consensus to support the regulation of tobacco use and all related products.
Although prevention and treatment interventions should target all professionals in the health system, reality shows us that Primary Care is the most effective point of access for the majority of the population.
We appreciate that the competent administrations and managers take the initiative to carry out intelligent strategies to gain support from civil society, associations and health professionals, in the face of the various pressures that try to stop this initiative aimed at improving public health.