An Completed Project

Support to Policy Development for the Improvement of Service Delivery Networks in the Provision of Tobacco Cessation Services

Funding Agency

Philippine Council for Health Research Development

Partners/Collaborators

Department of Health - Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DCPB)

Kind of Service

Development of Brief Tobacco Intervention Module and information materials

Project Description

Tobacco use remains a major cause of health problems globally. Currently, there are approximately 1.3 billion smokers in the world, and around 4.9 million deaths per year due to tobacco use. If such trend continues, deaths will continually increase to 10 million by the year 2020, 70% of which will be coming from countries like the Philippines (Source: The Role of Health Professionals in Tobacco Control, WHO, 2005).

The World Health Organization introduced the MPOWER measures to assist in reducing the demand for tobacco products at a country level. MPOWER stands for Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies; Protecting people from tobacco smoke; Offering help to quit tobacco use; Warning about the dangers of tobacco; Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; Raising taxes on tobacco.

Efforts have been initiated to coordinate and implement tobacco control in the country. The 2015 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) showed a decrease on tobacco/cigarette smokers from 28.3% in 2009 to 21.5% in 2015. The National Nutrition and Health Survey report also shows a decrease in tobacco smokers from 34.8% in 2003 to 23.3% in 2015. The same study showed that there were 76.7% current smokers who planned or were thinking about quitting. However, only 4.0% of those who smoked in the past 12 months successfully quit. Fifty-seven per cent (57%) of smokers who visited a healthcare provider in the past 12 months were advised to quit smoking.

To address these disparities, there is a need to develop a comprehensive National Tobacco Control Program based on the WHO FCTC Guidelines, specifically focusing on the following components among others: (a) a strong network of individuals equipped with skills to confidently offer/assist or encourage current tobacco users to quit and stay quit; (b) a functional referral network system of health and non-health workers in the community both from the public and private sectors capacitated on offering brief tobacco intervention services as well as those who offer intensive tobacco intervention; and (c) a sustainable monitoring scheme on tobacco use and abstinence.

In November 2017, the Field Epidemiology Training Program Alumni Foundation, Inc. (FETPAFI), as project implementer, was tasked to:

  1. Develop an Administrative Order (AO) that shall guide the promotion of cessation of tobacco use and adequate treatment for tobacco dependence;
  1. Develop a Brief Tobacco Intervention (BTI) course guidebook and information materials; and
  2. Pilot test the developed manual and training and informational materials. 

All activities of the project between November 2017 to May 2018 were conducted in partnership with Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB), PhilHealth, Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), Health Promotion and Communication Service (HPCS), Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau (HPDPB) and the Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association, Inc. (PAPA).