No Smoke Centers in Italy: Critical Issues & Perspectives

Smoking is one of the greatest public health problems worldwide and is one of the major risk factors in the development of neoplastic, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Public Health Experts and Regulatory Authorities around the world have planned actions aimed at discouraging the start of smoking among young people and to support cessation in accordance with the indications of the current guidelines. Unfortunately, in many countries, despite the effective- ness of the scientific approach, the results relating to cessation do not seem flattering. The situation of the No smoking organization and the No smoking Centers (CAF) in the main European countries is quite uneven. The aim of this research was to document the different organizational methods for the containment of smoking in Italy and in the main European countries and to calculate the potential level of cost-effectiveness of the CAFs in Italy.