The Khan Review: making smoking obsolete, a report published in June 2022 underlined the intervention of the UK government was the need of the hour. According to the report, England without further action would miss the smoke-free 2030 target by nearly 7 years and the poorest areas in the society would not make it until 2044.
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The report made 15 recommendations to the UK govt- which included the ‘must do’s that the administration has approved to consider and formulate a new Tobacco Control Plan. According to the author, in case the UK govt failed to fund themselves to execute their strategies, it should either make the impose penalty on the polluter, tax tobacco industries or generate additional corporation tax.
It also shed light on increasing the age of sale, which meant those beyond the set age bar would only be eligible to purchase tobacco products. Speaking on the lines of prevention, the report added that the NHS must deliver Long Term Plans thereby, offering smokers advice and support to quit at every interaction.
Healthcare officials across the network including GPs, psychiatrists, midwives, pharmacists, and dentists should be trained enough to asses and educate an individual to quit the usage of Tobacco products. Exploring alternatives to the deleterious habit, the report has promoted vaping. According to Khan, vaping is an effective tool for people to quit smoking tobacco. It understands that vapes do not give immediate results but assure that they are a better alternative.
It was in 2019 the UK govt published its green paper on preventative health; Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s. In the paper it had announced its ambition of Smokefree England by 2030 where it aimed to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 5 percent or less.
