Religion-based tobacco control interventions: how should WHO proceed?
Using religion to improve health is an age-old practice. However, using religion and enlisting religious authorities in public health campaigns, as exemplified by tobacco control interventions and other activities undertaken by WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although all possible opportunities within society should be exploited to control tobacco use and promote health, religion-based interventions should not be exempted from the evidence-based scrutiny to which other interventions are subjected before being adopted. In the absence of data and debate on whether this approach works, how it should be applied, and what the potential downsides and alternatives are, international organizations such as WHO should think carefully about using religion-based public health interventions in their regional programmes.
Jabbour
Samer
S
Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Van Dyck Hall, Beirut, Lebanon. sjabbour@aub.edu.lb
Fouad
Fouad Mohammad
FM
D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008877:Middle East; D016134:Organizational Policy; D016730:Program Development; D011634:Public Health; D012067:Religion; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014944:World Health Organization