Social will for tobacco control among the Hungarian public health workforce.
BACKGROUND
More than 1 in 5 deaths in Hungary can be attributed to tobacco smoking. The role of the public health agency in responding to and ameliorating the tobacco epidemic in Hungary has been, until now, unexplored. This paper explores the social will of the public health agency workers to adopt tobacco control measures.


METHODS
269 Hungarian public health workers throughout Hungary completed an electronic survey on the types of programs offered by the public health agency, the perceived level of responsibility to reduce tobacco use, and the social will of the agencies to curb tobacco use. Multivariate analyses were performed to estimate factors which contribute to the social will to curb tobacco use.


RESULTS
48% of public health workers in Hungary report that it is absolutely important for local public health agencies to offer tobacco prevention and cessation programs, but only 3% indicate that they have earmarked funds to support anti-tobacco programs. Most workers favor more programs and policies to curb tobacco use in Hungary, such as taxation (67%) and banning smoking in restaurants (81%) and confined sporting events (93%). Factors positively associated with a stronger social will for tobacco control included being a former or never smoker (versus a current smoker) (p < 0.001) and being middle age (40-49, p = 0.04 and 50-59, p = 0.01) (versus being under the age of 30).


CONCLUSIONS
Based on a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, we argue that public health workers have the potential to play an important role in disseminating health promotion programs and advocating for broader statewide policies that could reduce tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. However, such an opportunity is missed with neither designated funding nor a nationally-dedicated office to tobacco control in Hungary.
Foley
Kristie L
KL
Medical Humanities, Box 7135 Davidson College, North Carolina, 28035, USA. krfoley@davidson.edu
Balázs
Péter
P
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011049:Social Control Policies / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution