Taking tobacco to heart

Tobacco was in the spotlight at the World Congress of Cardiology Scientific Sessions 2010 (WCC 2010) in Beijing.  Working to put tobacco control high on the heart health agenda, the WCC 2010 brought in top experts in the topic from around the world, and organized comprehensive communication strategy to make the congress an effective platform for support of smoke-free policy. A film and position paper produced by the Global Smokefree Partnership (GSP) and launched at the WCC 2010 were cornerstones of this strategy, which combined scientific content with press activities exhibition activities and participation in a parallel workshop.

Warning: Secondhand Smoke is Hazardous to your Heart

The Global Smokefree Partnerhsip film, Warning: Secondhand Smoke is Hazardous to your Heart, summarizes the evidence CVD and secondhand smoke and explores its implications for  cardiologists from around the world. Featuring cardiologists who have taken a stand to support smoke-free policy, it calls on all cardiologists to educate patients, public and policymakers so that they take the steps needed to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke.  “Getting people with heart disease to stop smoking and/or avoid exposure to secondhand smoke improves outcomes as much as or more than any single medical treatment that we cardiologists can offer,” emphasized Dr. Sidney C. Smith, Jr. President-Elect of the World Heart Federation. Dr. Dayi Hu, President of the Cardiology Society of the Chinese Medical Association explained the special need for supporting tobacco control in China: “Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke endangers the health of 900 million people in China.”

Working with partners to improve access to evidence

A multi-partner initiative formed to enhance access to evidence on smoke-free policy, GSP linked the World Heart Federation with partners in international tobacco control to develop resource materials tailored to the cardiologists who participate in the WCC 2010. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had recently commissioned an evidence review by the Institute of Medicine on the cardiovascular effects of secondhand smoke; it wrote a short position paper based on its findings. The Roswell Park Cancer Institute, which has a filmmaker on staff,  offered to make a film and found funding for it from the Flight Attendant’s Medical Research Institute. The World Lung Foundation offered support from its communication experts for coordination and dissemination of the film.  Coordinated by the GSP, the World Heart Federation worked with these partners and a Medical Advisory Committee of cardiologists and tobacco control specialists from around the world. By the end of the project the collaboration had engaged the Tobacco-Free Inititive, Tobacco-Free kids, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and World Heart Federation members and partners in Colombia, Uruguay and India and the UK.

Cardiologists have important role to play

Complementing the film and paper with a five-fold increase in its scientific content on tobacco control since last congress, the World Heart Federation worked with its partners to develop press events and releases to publicize the project’s main messages about tobacco and the heart. One of these was the call to action for cardiologists that was featured in the paper Warning: Secondhand Smoke is hazardous to your Health. “We hope,” said Antonella Cardone, Acting Director of the GSP who coordinated the project, “that Congress participants will take the resources home and use them at national levels in their own countries…either with students, colleagues, or policymakers.”  World Heart Federation Board Member Srinath Reddy, who was featured in the film and gave input to film and pape, concludes: “cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of death by tobacco, and tobacco is the world’s biggest entirely preventable killer.  Cardiologists have a voice which is heard and respected: we are the guardians of the science on heart health.  We must unite forces with other specialties and professions to advocate for stronger tobacco control.”

For full resource Warning: Secondhand Smoke is Hazardous to your Heart (film and paper in Chinese and English), collection of resources on the topic and information on the teams and individuals involved in the project.

http://www.frames2004.com/gsp/WCC/data/index.html

Hard copies can be ordered from Global Smokefree Partnership at http://www.frames2004.com/gsp/WCC/data/index.html

To link with the network of heart health specialists promoting tobacco control including cessation treatment, please contact alice.graingergasser(at)worldheart.org