Abstract
Tobacco use is projected to cause nearly 450 million deaths worldwide during the next 50 years if the current smoking prevalence development will continue. Health professionals can have a critical role in reducing tobacco use and smoking-related health consequencies.
Even brief and simple advice from health professionals can substantially affect smoking habit. One of the strategies to reduce the number of smoking-related morbidity and mortality is encourage the involment of health professionals in smoking prevention and treatment.
In 1999, US Center fo Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) together with WHO began global tobacco surveillance work with the development of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). In 2000 was the survey expanded with the addition of the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS).
Many countries have requested that WHO and CDC expand the surveillance effort by including health professionals. Following this request, WHO and CDC, in collaboration with the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) and the American Cancer Society (ACS), developed the Global Health Professionals Survey (GHPS).
The theme of WHO's World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2005 was the role of health professionals in tobacco control. Health professionals and their organizations are aware of potential role and responsibility in tobacco control.