Consultant family medicine Director of Center of Postgraduate studies in Family Medicine

Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that usually requires repeated intervention. Effective interventions exist that can produce long-term cessation at up to double the rate achieved by smokers without treatment. Because of the potential health benefits and availability of effective interventions every smoker should be offered effective intervention. The identification of smoking status and the provision of brief advice independently increase cessation rate compared to no intervention and should be routine as part of each contact with health services. Interventions involving individual, group or proactive telephone counseling are more effective than no intervention.There is a strong dose response between the intensity (number and length of sessions) of tobacco cessation counseling and its effectiveness. Magnitude of the problem International studies indicate that one in two people who smoke long term die early due to smoking, with half of these deaths occurring in middle age(1). As well as causing premature death, use of tobacco greatly diminishes quality of life(2), and this affect