Organizational models for the sustainability of the National Tobacco Control Program: a pilot proposal to be adopted nationally

Abstract

Introduction: The consumption of tobacco products, from planting to consumption, is responsible for serious health problems, representing a cycle of diseases, poverty and deaths worldwide. This serious public health problem led Brazil to develop, from the 1980s onwards, a set of tobacco control measures, constituting a policy with legislative, economic, communication and educational actions, which has as its foundation the National Program for Control of Tobacco. Tobacco (PNCT). Objective: This article is an experience report that is part of a national study carried out between 2020 and 2022, and describes actions through technical visits to tobacco control coordination offices in five states. Method: The states were selected according to criteria established by Ditab/INCA, which coordinates the network of the State Program for Tobacco Control (PECT) in the 26 States and Federative Unit of the country. Thus, a State of each region was chosen: Tocantins (North), Paraíba (Northeast), Goiás (Midwest), Rio de Janeiro (Southeast) and Paraná (South). Results: Practices were developed to enhance, improve and add technical, political, communication actions, among others, in order to give sustainability to the State Program and, more broadly, the PNCT.