COVID-19 & Tobacco (Edinburgh)

COVID-19 and Tobacco Project: Generating evidence to support policy and practice to address tobacco use during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a two-and-a-half-month research project designed to meet an urgent need for evidence on public health responses and tobacco control in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

Covid19 & Tobacco Logo

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all aspects of life for much of the world’s population.  Although evidence on who is most vulnerable to COVID-19 is emerging, it is clear that individuals with underlying chronic health conditions are more at risk. Many of these conditions (i.e. heart or respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes) are more common among smokers. Smokers may also be at greater risk of poorer outcomes if they require hospital admission for COVID-19, as smoking is a significant risk factor for respiratory infections and recovery. There is a need to better integrate responses to infectious disease epidemics and tobacco control interventions, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs) where health service capacity is limited. 

The project builds on an existing GCRF GROW funded programme, the Tobacco Control Capacity Programme (TCCP). TCCP is a consortium of 15 partners, nine of which are in Africa and Asia. Over the past two years TCCP has established strong infrastructure and links with academic, governmental and non-governmental partners and with international organisations that will facilitate timely completion of this proposed project.

 Aim

  • Generate evidence to support governments in LMICs to make informed policy decisions about the public health response in general and tobacco control interventions in particular, in the context of COVID-19 or other future infectious disease epidemics that affect respiratory health.

Objectives

  • Examine the relationship between COVID-19 and tobacco use
  • Explore how efforts to address COVID-19 or other future infectious disease epidemics can be integrated with tobacco control policies and interventions
  • Investigate the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its response on the mental health, physical health and quality of life of smokers and their families in Pakistan and India

Outputs and Impact

  • Provide information to policy makers, professionals and civil society groups in LMICs about the links between COVID-19 and tobacco use in terms of smoking as a risk factor for developing COVID-19 and any relationships between the extent and severity of symptoms, treatment outcomes, survival and post infectious sequela
  • Communicate this information through policy briefings that can be used in LMICs to inform public information, and risk communication to tobacco users their families and relevant organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic or future infectious disease epidemics that affect respiratory health 
  • Provide evidence that can be used by public health professionals to make the case for maintaining or strengthening tobacco control policies and interventions as part of an integrated approach to addressing infectious disease epidemics such as COVID-19
  • In Pakistan and India, generate broader evidence about the impact of COVID-19 and the measures taken to address it on smokers and their families that can inform health care, social support and policy responses to the pandemic. 
    Contribute to emerging international debates about the implications of COVID-19 for tobacco control and NCD agendas.

The proposed project builds on an existing GCRF GROW funded programme, the Tobacco Control Capacity Programme (TCCP). TCCP is a consortium of 15 partners, nine of which are in Africa and Asia. It also has strong linkages to the SPECTRUM consortium, a UK Prevention Research Partnership funded programme.

Further details

Partners

  • School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
  • ARK Foundation, Bangladesh
  • Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
  • School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
  • HRIDAY, Delhi, India
  • Public Health Foundation of India
  • The Initiative, Pakistan
  • Makarere School of Public Health, Makarere University, Uganda
  • Department of Health Sciences, University of York

Key People

  • Prof Linda Bauld, Principal Investigator, University of Edinburgh*
  • Dr Fiona Davidson, Research Manager, University of Edinburgh
  • Prof Jeff Collin, Co-investigator, University of Edinburgh*
  • Dr Fiona Dobbie, Co-investigator, University of Edinburgh
  • Dr Rob Ralston, Co-Investigator, University of Edinburgh
  • Dr Rumana Huque
    , C
    ountry Principal Investigator, ARK Foundation, Bangladesh
  • Dr Monika Arora, Country Co-Principal Investigator, HRIDAY, India
  • Dr Amina Khan, 
    Country Co-Principal Investigator, The Initiative, Pakistan
  • Kellen Nyamurungi, Country Principal Investigator,
    Makarere School of Public Health, Makarere University, Uganda
  • Prof Ellis Owusu-Dabo, Country Principal Investigator,
    School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
  • Prof Wakgari Deressa, Country Principal Investigator, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
  • Dr Lion Shahab, 
    Institute of Epidemiology and Health, University College London*
  • Prof Jamie Brown, Institute of Epidemiology and Health, University College London*

*SPECTRUM Members

Funder

The project is funded through an internal call for proposals from the University of Edinburgh, utilizing funding from the Scottish Funding Council, as part of their Global Challenges Research Fund.

Links and information

Professor Kamran Siddiqi will present results from the project at the Society for Research and Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Virtual Half-Day Conference ‘Tobacco, Nicotine & COVID-19: Existing Science, Emerging Evidence & Future Research’ on Thursday 30 July, 2020.

Keep up to date with the live results of the Covid-19 Tobacco survey in Pakistan

Press release on launch of study in Pakistan.