Comparing Tobacco and Alcohol Policies From a Health Systems Perspective: The Cases of the Philippines and Singapore

Gianna Gayle Herrera Amul; Jean-Francois Etter

doi:10.3389/ijph.2022.1605050

Comparing Tobacco and Alcohol Policies From a Health Systems Perspective: The Cases of the Philippines and Singapore

Int J Public Health. 2022 Oct 13:67:1605050. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2022.1605050. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Gianna Gayle Herrera Amul^{1

2

3}, Jean-Francois Etter¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland.
² Research for Impact Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
³ School of Government, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines.

Abstract

Objective: To provide a comparative analysis of current tobacco and alcohol control laws and policies in the Philippines and Singapore Methods: We used a public health law framework that incorporates a systems approach using a scorecard to assess the progress of the Philippines and Singapore in tobacco and alcohol control according to SDG indicators, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol. We collected data from the scientific literature and government documents. Results: Despite health system differences, both the Philippines (73.5) and Singapore (86.5) scored high for tobacco control, but both countries received weak and moderate scores for alcohol control: the Philippines (34) and Singapore (52.5). Both countries have policy avenues to reinforce restrictions on marketing and corporate social responsibility programs, protect policies from the influence of the industry, and reinforce tobacco cessation and preventive measures against alcohol harms. Conclusion: Using a health system-based scorecard for policy surveillance in alcohol and tobacco control helped set policy benchmarks, showed the gaps and opportunities in these two countries, and identified avenues for strengthening current policies.

Keywords: Philippines; Singapore; alcohol control; health policy; health systems; policy surveillance; public health law; tobacco control.

MeSH terms

Health Policy
Humans
Nicotiana
Philippines
Public Policy
Singapore
Tobacco Industry*
Tobacco Products*

Grants and funding

The authors received no external financial support for the research and authorship of this article. The Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+) covered part of the publication charges. SSPH+ was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication. The University of Geneva paid JFE’s salary and also part of the publication charges. GGA also paid part of the publication charges.