The Analysis of Household Surveys


Book Description

Using data from several countries, including Cote d'Ivoire, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Thailand, this book analyzes household survey data from developing countries and illustrates how such data can be used to cast light on a range of short-term and long-term policy issues.




Building Blocks for Tobacco Control


Book Description

The idea for this handbook arose from an awareness that whilst various WHO documents called for developing national capacity for tobacco control, there was not comprehensive guide to the development of such a capacity. This book is thus, essentially, a pragmatic "how to" manual. The Introduction presents the evolving definition of "national capacity", identifies the types of capacities needed for effective tobacco control and outlines the key features of building capacity. Section 1 provides a descriptive overview of the tobacco epidemic. It looks at tobacco as a risk factor, presenting its health, social and economic costs; the global strategies of the tobacco industry to counteract public health measures; the scientific evidence for effective tobacco control interventions; and the WHO FCTC as a global solution to an epidemic with prominent politico-legal and socio-cultural attributes. Section 2 focuses on the fundamental capacities necessary to empower countries to control the tobacco epidemic successfully. These chapters apply the lessons learned from the experiences of different countries and offer advice and suggestions to enable countries to put the theories of tobacco control into practice.




Economics Of Tobacco Control In China: From Policy Research To Practice


Book Description

Nearly 370 million people in China smoke; about one-third of all smokers in the world are in China; and about 1.2 million deaths in China are attributable to smoking. The death toll is expected to reach 2.2 million in 2030 if no smoking intervention programs are implemented. Taxation on tobacco products is one of the most effective tobacco control programs. This book addresses not only why China should raise cigarette tax, but also how to raise the tobacco tax, by providing decision makers with relevant research findings and quantitative estimate about the impact of raising the tobacco tax. It documents how these research findings were communicated to the Chinese government officials, and how, finally, tobacco tax was raised 10 years after China's ratification of the WHO Frame Work Convention on Tobacco Control Treaty.The purposes of this book are (1) to inform economists, public health professionals, and policymakers about the economic consequences of smoking, (2) to provide the essential economics (particularly related to taxation) and public health information upon which to build the specifics of the taxation policy that is adopted, (3) to identify barriers, challenges, and recommendations for the Chinese government, and (4) to describe how research findings can be disseminated and communicated successfully to Chinese government policy makers. It is a must read for researchers who are interested in China's tobacco control efforts and in how to communicating their findings to the policy makers. It could also be useful for tobacco control professionals, researchers and policy makers in other countries.




Tools and Ethics for Applied Behavioural Insights: The BASIC Toolkit


Book Description

Behavioural insights (BI) are lessons derived from the behavioural and social sciences, including decision making, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, organisational and group behaviour.




Assessing the Use of Agent-Based Models for Tobacco Regulation


Book Description

Tobacco consumption continues to be the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products - specifically cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco - to protect public health and reduce tobacco use in the United States. Given the strong social component inherent to tobacco use onset, cessation, and relapse, and given the heterogeneity of those social interactions, agent-based models have the potential to be an essential tool in assessing the effects of policies to control tobacco. Assessing the Use of Agent-Based Models for Tobacco Regulation describes the complex tobacco environment; discusses the usefulness of agent-based models to inform tobacco policy and regulation; presents an evaluation framework for policy-relevant agent-based models; examines the role and type of data needed to develop agent-based models for tobacco regulation; provides an assessment of the agent-based model developed for FDA; and offers strategies for using agent-based models to inform decision making in the future.




Combating Tobacco Use in Military and Veteran Populations


Book Description

The health and economic costs of tobacco use in military and veteran populations are high. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) make recommendations on how to reduce tobacco initiation and encourage cessation in both military and veteran populations. In its 2009 report, Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations, the authoring committee concludes that to prevent tobacco initiation and encourage cessation, both DoD and VA should implement comprehensive tobacco-control programs.




Health Taxes: Policy And Practice


Book Description

Virtually all fiscal measures influence people's health, through their impacts on behaviour, consumption, income and wealth. A narrow subset of fiscal measures, however, can be more directly aimed at improving health by targeting behaviours and risks that are known to be strongly associated with health outcomes. The purpose of this book is to discuss the subject of these measures, which we define as 'health taxes'. The book aims to enumerate key health taxes of interest, explore their positive and negative effects, and how these effects are influenced by the design of these taxes and the context in which they are applied. We ask how and where they can be implemented. Critically, we build an argument throughout the book for why policymakers across government should care about health taxes.




E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: a Report of the Surgeon General


Book Description

Tobacco use among youth and young adults in any form, including e-cigarettes, is not safe. In recent years, e-cigarette use by youth and young adults has increased at an alarming rate. E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth in the United States. This timely report highlights the rapidly changing patterns of e-cigarette use among youth and young adults, assesses what we know about the health effects of using these products, and describes strategies that tobacco companies use to recruit our nation's youth and young adults to try and continue using e-cigarettes. The report also outlines interventions that can be adopted to minimize the harm these products cause to our nation's youth.E-cigarettes are tobacco products that deliver nicotine. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, and many of today's youth who are using e-cigarettes could become tomorrow's cigarette smokers. Nicotine exposure can also harm brain development in ways that may affect the health and mental health of our kids.E-cigarette use among youth and young adults is associated with the use of other tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes. Because most tobacco use is established during adolescence, actions to prevent our nation's young people from the potential of a lifetime of nicotine addiction are critical.E-cigarette companies appear to be using many of the advertising tactics the tobacco industry used to persuade a new generation of young people to use their products. Companies are promoting their products through television and radio advertisements that use celebrities, sexual content, and claims of independence to glamorize these addictive products and make them appealing to young people.




How to Design and Enforce Tobacco Excises?


Book Description

Taxing tobacco can help raise much needed revenue and save lives, but it needs to be done well. This “How-to” note provides guidance on the basics of tobacco taxation. How high should tobacco taxes be? Should we use ad valorem or specific taxes? What are the key elements of an efficient tax administration that will secure the tax base and prevent illegal trade? These are important questions that need to be addressed and this note provide a sound first step towards solid policy decisions.




Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults


Book Description

This booklet for schools, medical personnel, and parents contains highlights from the 2012 Surgeon General's report on tobacco use among youth and teens (ages 12 through 17) and young adults (ages 18 through 25). The report details the causes and the consequences of tobacco use among youth and young adults by focusing on the social, environmental, advertising, and marketing influences that encourage youth and young adults to initiate and sustain tobacco use. This is the first time tobacco data on young adults as a discrete population have been explored in detail. The report also highlights successful strategies to prevent young people from using tobacco.