Smoke Free Sweden marks one year of successful advocacy
14 March 2024, Stockholm, Sweden – Smoke Free Sweden today marked one year of existence and celebrated its achievement of global recognition for Sweden’s fight against smoking using reduced-risk alternatives.
A year ago today, international harm reduction experts came together in Stockholm to launch a new movement celebrating Sweden’s spectacular and successful fight against smoking.
Commenting on the anniversary, Dr Delon Human, leader of the Smoke Free Sweden initiative and former Health Advisor to three WHO Director-Generals, said:
“We started the Smoke Free Sweden movement because the world had for so many years the answer to smoking right under its nose. That is what we have been doing over the last year.
“The past 12 months have shown us that people do want to hear about how alternatives can provide a better future and help smokers quit. Our mission now is for governments to incorporate Sweden’s lessons into law.”
In just one year of activity, Smoke Free Sweden has published four reports looking at what makes Sweden different and providing a simple template for how governments around the world can replicate its success and save millions of lives, and gained global recognition from media and policymakers alike.
Its events have taken place in four continents and Sweden’s story has reached more than 1 billion people around the world.
Politicians from Sweden to New Zealand to Brazil have endorsed the Swedish approach to beating smoking.
The country is on the cusp of becoming officially ‘smoke free’, defined as less than 5% smoking incidence, the official threshold set out by the World Health Organization, because less harmful alternatives are accessible, affordable and acceptable.
As a result, smoking rates in Sweden have dropped by 55% in the past decade alone. Sweden also has 44% fewer tobacco-related deaths, a 41% lower cancer rate and 38% fewer deaths attributable to any cancer when compared with its EU counterparts.
Contact
Smoke Free Sweden
Jessica Perkins
info@smokefreesweden.org
About Smoke Free Sweden
Smoke Free Sweden is a movement that encourages other countries to follow the Swedish experience when it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction. Sweden is about to become the first ‘smoke free’ European country, with a smoking rate of below 5 percent. This remarkable achievement can be attributed to Sweden’s open attitude towards alternative products.
For more information on Sweden’s successful approach to becoming a smoke free nation, please visit www.smokefreesweden.org.