Smoking, health and social justice

National smoking prevalence is declining and new legislation, such as the Tobacco and Vapes Act, will reduce the number of people who take up smoking. However, there are profound disparities in the prevalence of people who currently smoke in the population, and further measures are required to prevent and treat tobacco-related inequality.

The recently published RCP report 'Smoking, health and social justice outlines the drivers of smoking inequality, significant gaps in national data collection, the economic impact of smoking and measures to mitigate this wholly preventable cause of disadvantage.

By introducing opt-out treatment of tobacco dependency across the NHS, raising the price of tobacco and applying cross-governmental actions to health-harming industries, the persistent gap in smoking-related inequality can be reduced.