Smoking Uptake, Prevalence, Cessation and Evasion in Albania

Albania - December 9th, 2020

Virtual Roundtable – a zoom meeting

The round table “Smoking Uptake, Prevalence, Cessation and Evasion in Albania” took place on 16th December, 2020. There were presented the results from Topic 4 and Topic 5.

The round table was implemented online, using zoom. It was attended by representatives from Ministry of Finance and Economy, Tax Directorate, State Health Inspectorate Representative, (ISHSH), WHO, academia and civil society.
The study results were welcome and considered as useful information by the participants. According to one participant, the Round Tables organized in the context of this project, is the main platform bringing stakeholders together every year to discuss policies on tobacco control.

According to the discussions, there is a need to provide dedicated service for quitting smoking as in Albania, different from many countries in Europe, there are no such dedicated services. In addition, there was highlighted the need to adopt the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, which is expected to result in lower evasion.