Health policies for tobacco control in Latin America and the Caribbean: an integrative review/Politicas de saude para o controle do tabagismo na America Latina e Caribe: uma revisao integrativa

The habit of smoking is an increasing concern for governments, health authorities and society as a whole, as it is a legal drug, which is addictive and leads to serious damage to health. Cigarette smoking causes about 5.4 million deaths/ year worldwide and is the second major risk factor for deaths. An attempt is made to identify how policies can contribute to the eradication of smoking in Latin America and the Caribbean. An integrative review was conducted at BIREME using LILACS, and 16 articles were selected using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The articles were compared and grouped according to similarity of content and divided into 4 groups: smoke-free spaces, Framework-Convention, local Brazilian policies and others. Little data about smoking in Latin America and the Caribbean is available, mainly with respect to the evaluation of policies deployed. Policies for smoke-free spaces were emphasized (5 articles), as well as the Framework-Convention on tobacco control (4 articles) and articles that portray Brazilian policies for tackling smoking (3 articles).