The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Although physicians daily see patients who are directly or indirectly affected by the harms of tobacco use, in developing countries it is not among the general practises to ask or warn the patient about the health hazards. Among pediatricians this practice is even unheard. Caring for a child with cancer, asthma and respiratory insufficiency, the physicians do not remember to ask the parent s about their smoking habits and give advice about cessation.

The reasons of this hard to understand entity is multifaceted. In developing countries many physicians are smokers and avoid talking on these issues. They usually believe that they are trained for higher level medical interventions and prevention is not their task.

The rules of medical profession will be analyzed and the role of any physician in tobacco control will be emphasized.