Dear HIFA colleagues,
Previous messages on the question "Do health workers have adequate knowledge to prevent and treat tobacco addiction?" suggest they do not. This is an astounding conclusion: Health workers are inadequately informed to help protect their individual patients, and the population at large, from the dangers of smoking, which kills more than half of its users, more than 8 million people each year.
There is a catastrophic failure of public health education here, and a failure to empower health professionals with basic facts and basic skills.
Where are we going wrong?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
