Building the Economic Case for Tobacco Control
What does this toolkit do?
This toolkit allows you to estimate the economic impact of tobacco on services in your local and sub-national area. By using the drop down menus on the Inputs page, you can select your area of interest and the toolkit will automatically estimate the smoking and ex-smoking populations based on up-to-date statistics. This population composition is used to model the impact of smoking on relevant endpoints, taking into account short-, medium- and long-term events.
How are costs and outcomes modelled?
The model predicts changes in health and non-health impacts in response to reduction of smoking prevalence, which is moderated through natural background quitting behaviour, an increase in local cessation support and by establishing a sub-national tobacco control programme. At a local level, the model allows you to allocate a proportion of your smoking population to one or several interventions, with reduced prevalence resulting from their relative effectiveness over and above the natural background quit rates. The inclusion of a sub-national programme in your area further increases this background rate. Outputs are presented to allow you to compare the economic impacts of the different scenarios.
Who developed this toolkit?
The Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University developed this work in partnership with London Health Observatory and Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, and South West Public Health Observatory. This work was funded by Tobacco Free Futures, Fresh Smoke Free North East and Smoke Free South West.
Has this tool been subject to piloting?
The Model Structure has been developed and tested with stakeholders and commissioners.
Are there any other documents I need to read to be able to use this toolkit at its full potential?
Details as to how to use this model and technical data are available as downloads. Always refer to accompanying Report, Technical Annexes and User Guide, where appropriate, if you need any clarification. Also, read the Disclaimer information before you use this model.
How do I install the toolkit on my PC?
This site contains the most up-to-date toolkit- so make sure you download this version. The toolkit is packaged in a zip folder. Click on the ‘Download’ link and save it to a location on your PC. You must unzip/extract this folder before the first use. Some operating systems allow you to open the file directly from the zipped folder without having to extract/unzip it – this is not recommended here. If you attempt this, an error message will show up and the toolkit will not function properly.
How do I get the password to unlock the locked fields?
Some fields (eg tobacco control interventions without behavioural support) have been locked as most of the intended users are not expected to make any changes in the inputs screen (see accompanying User Guide). If you see a padlock next to a field, this means the field is pre-populated and locked. However, if you are an advanced user and would like to unlock these fields to input your own parameters, please email subhash.pokhrel@brunel.ac.uk to request the password.
Who do I contact if I need to provide my feedback on the toolkit?
This toolkit may be subject to continuous improvement. Please email subhash.pokhrel@brunel.ac.uk if you encounter any problem or detect any inconsistency.
Disclaimer
This toolkit when available on the web can be freely accessed and used for building business cases for tobacco control. This is primarily intended for commissioners, public health professionals, regional managers and policy-makers. The toolkit has been developed using the current best practice and available data, and while doing so, a number of assumptions have been made. It is the responsibility of the users to understand the workings of the model and accept the assumptions underlying it. The Project team and the sponsors, therefore, accept no liability for any adverse consequence arising from the use of this toolkit. The users are expected to acknowledge the source in any form of verbal and written communications. The accompanying report describes the underlying principles of this toolkit and therefore the users are strongly recommended to read the report and the User Guide beforehand.
