The tobacco use management system: analyzing tobacco control from a systems perspective.

Abstract

We use systems thinking to develop a strategic framework for analyzing the tobacco problem and we suggest solutions. Humans are vulnerable to nicotine addiction, and the most marketable form of nicotine delivery is the most harmful. A tobacco use management system has evolved out of governments' attempts to regulate tobacco marketing and use and to support services that provide information about tobacco's harms and discourage its use. Our analysis identified 5 systemic problems that constrain progress toward the elimination of tobacco-related harm. We argue that this goal would be more readily achieved if the regulatory subsystem had dynamic power to regulate tobacco products and the tobacco industry as well as a responsive process for resourcing tobacco use control activities.