RESUMEN
SUMMARY: Essential cancer treatments are not accessible, affordable, or available to patients who need them in many parts of the world. A new Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition, using public-private partnerships, aims to bring essential cancer medicines and diagnostics to patients in low- and lower middle-income countries.
Asunto(s)
Medicamentos Esenciales , Neoplasias , Humanos , Neoplasias/tratamiento farmacológico , Oncología Médica , Medicamentos Esenciales/uso terapéutico , Accesibilidad a los Servicios de Salud , Costos y Análisis de CostoRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: In Jordan, four non-graphic pictorial health warning labels (PHWLs) concerning a limited selection of tobacco-caused harms have been used since 2011; however, research suggests that they may be ineffective. OBJECTIVES: To explore Jordanian smokers' reactions to novel PHWLs featuring various health themes and/or graphic and symbolic imagery and to discuss existing PHWLs in light of the novel PHWLs. METHODS: We conducted 14 focus groups (FGs) with smokers who assessed 12 novel PHWLs and commented on four existing PHWLs. Data were analysed using an inductive approach. RESULTS: Six themes emerged from the FG discussions: understanding the overall meaning of PHWLs, the impact of graphic images, magnitude and controllability of harm, personal or vicarious experiences, the futility of quitting and fatalism. PHWLs depicting graphic respiratory and oral tobacco-caused harms resonated with most smokers. Smokers also sought direct, harm-specific taglines when trying to understand the overall PHWL. Some smokers viewed the PHWLs as exaggerated, and while the majority acknowledged that smoking was harmful, they felt that PHWLs would not accomplish their goal of inducing quitting. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the use of graphic imagery to communicate tobacco-caused harms (particularly respiratory ones) and the use of specific taglines explaining the mechanism of harm depicted.