Iran: Smoke-free cities to combat passive smoking

In Iran, a national plan to reduce second-hand smoke in 63 cities and 63 villages has just been piloted in the city of Qom[1]. Iran's five-year program could eventually be rolled out in all cities across Iran, said Behzad Valizadeh, head of the National Secretariat for Tobacco Control. In Qom, the city piloting the measure, sales, distribution and use will be regulated to limit second-hand smoke, as will direct and indirect incentive mechanisms. At the same time, smokers will be encouraged to quit smoking.

Reduce the number of smokers

Iran's national plan aims at simultaneously reducing the supply and demand of tobacco, with the aim of gradually reducing the smoking rate. The implementation and evaluation of this project will be done in coordination between the Ministry of Health, non-governmental organizations, and the country's medical universities.

Denormalizing smoking

Beyond reducing the number of smokers, the establishment of smoke-free cities is a step towards denormalizing tobacco use. In other words, these measures aim to deconstruct the acceptability of smoking, in order to make it less attractive, particularly to younger generations. Each year, nearly 40,000 people die prematurely as a result of their direct or indirect tobacco use.[2].

Smoking, a collective health burden

The issue of second-hand smoke is central to the thinking behind the fight against tobacco. For the industry, smoking is a matter of individual freedom and risk-taking. In reality, this argument is invalidated by the facts, since it is estimated that second-hand smoke is the cause of one million premature deaths worldwide, demonstrating that the health costs of smoking are also collective. Keywords: Iran, second-hand smoke, smoke-free cities ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Iran starts five-year tobacco-free national plan, Tehran Times, September 20, 2020, (accessed 09/21/2020) [2] Iran, Tobacco Atlas, consulted on 09/21/2020

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