Supporting incentives to tobacco farmers to shift to other crops. Offering smoking cessation programmes to nurses who use tobacco. Working to integrate tobacco and smoking information into all levels of nursing curricula. The ICN Code for Nurses 1 states that health promotion and illness prevention are among the fundamental responsibilities of the nurse. Additionally, the nurse shares with other citizens the responsibility for initiating and supporting action to meet the health and social needs of the public Despite the devastating effect of smoking on health, global consumption has increased steadily over the past two decades, and the cost in preventable deaths now approaches 3.5 million people a year and is expected to rise to 10 million by the year 2020.
Nurses continue to smoke and the uptake among young women is a growing concern globally.
Health problems caused by tobacco use are highly preventable. Health promotion and disease prevention related to the tobacco free initiative must be strengthened and nurses are ideally suited to addressing this critical health issue. The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 120 national nurses' associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses for nurses, ICN is the international voice of nursing and works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally.