Research organizations call for making smoking quit-line functional in Pakistan 

ISLAMABAD: The Alternative Research Initiative (ARI), in collaboration with its partner organization, the Workers Education & Research Organisation, has urged authorities to make Pakistan’s national smoking quit-line fully functional, with adequate human and financial resources to ensure its effectiveness.

ARI underscores that accessible and effective cessation services are crucial to achieving a smoke-free Pakistan.

“Realising this vision is impossible without widely accessible cessation services,” says Arshad Ali Syed, Project Director of ARI.

The organisations stress the importance of not only activating the quit-line but enhancing it with trained personnel and necessary funding, citing examples from stop-smoking services in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, where comprehensive support is provided to those seeking to quit.

These services offer guidance through trained advisers who evaluate smoking habits, motivations to quit, and conduct carbon monoxide breath tests to measure smoker exposure levels. NHS-endorsed treatments, such as nicotine replacement products, and advice on using e-cigarettes are also available.

In the UK, stop-smoking advisers play a critical role in helping individuals identify relapse triggers and high-risk situations, providing essential support throughout the quitting journey.

The ARI has urged Pakistan to consider and implement lessons from effective cessation services in developed countries. “Without assisting adult smokers in quitting, the dream of a smoke-free Pakistan will remain unattainable,” it cautions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that approximately 80 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users are in low- and middle-income countries, including Pakistan, which alone has over 31 million tobacco users, with more than half being smokers.