Policy document
Tobacco control to improve child health and development: thematic brief.
Filippos T Filippidis, Anthony A Laverty, Christopher J. Millett, Jasper V. Been, Banerjee Anshu et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This brief explains why protecting children from tobacco exposure is important for their health and development. Tobacco smoke increases the risk of disease in children and makes them more likely to start smoking themselves. The document argues that tobacco control measures are needed to create safe environments where children can grow up healthy, supporting both child health goals and sustainable development. The brief aims to raise awareness among practitioners and policy-makers about the need for strong tobacco control policies.
Key points
- Children exposed to tobacco smoke face increased risk of a range of diseases
- Early exposure to tobacco increases the likelihood that children will take up smoking themselves
- Protecting children from tobacco is central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and wellbeing
- Tobacco control measures provide strong protective effects for child health and development
- Creating tobacco-free environments is described as essential to nurturing care
Limitations
This is a thematic brief focused on raising awareness rather than reporting research findings or evaluating specific interventions. It does not provide data on the prevalence of child tobacco exposure, quantify health impacts, or assess the effectiveness of particular tobacco control policies.
Abstract
Why is protecting children from tobacco important? Tobacco poses risks to children’s survival, health and development. Protecting children from tobacco smoke is essential to help them to survive and thrive. Children exposed to tobacco smoke are at an increased risk of a range of diseases and are more likely to take up smoking themselves. Enabling children to grow up free from the dangers of tobacco exposure is a key aspect of providing clean, safe and secure environments. Providing such environments is central to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 on good health and wellbeing. It is also essential for nurturing care. This brief summarizes the health risks that tobacco poses to children, particularly to infants and young children, and the strong protective effect of tobacco control measures. The aim is to raise awareness among practitioners and policy-makers about the importance of strong tobacco control measures for protecting the health and development of children. The brief gives examples of actions needed to advance tobacco control in countries and local settings and to align child health and tobacco control goals.