Tobacco control in the WHO European Region

This paper examines some of the historical and cultural contexts of tobacco control in the WHO European Region. It aims to bring longer-term and more culturally nuanced perspectives to contemporary debates, and to highlight the centrality of tobacco control to the development of public health in European society since the Second World War. In charting the rapid growth of tobacco consumption, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the anti-tobacco initiatives that arose in response, this paper brings attention to the role that European countries have played in the story of tobacco control, and draws some conclusions from national, regional and global efforts.