In India, there is a well-documented connection between poverty and smoking of

tobacco. Regardless, tobacco smoking control measures have been deployed without considering

the high risk population. Approximately 3000 million Indians live in abject poverty. Of the total

population of India, nearly 28.6% are tobacco smokers. The use of tobacco among the poor and

the aggravation of poverty because of smoking related infections are conspicuous in India. The

costs of healthcare involve both the medical costs and mortality and morbidity costs. Given the

middle income level of India, treatment for tobacco related infections is always out of hand.

Besides, there are pronounced health and socio-economical inequalities. Smoking-related

diseases are the major cause of poverty in India. Economic evaluation is significant in

measuring, evaluating and comparing costs. Despite the numerous control programs which are

important, there has been a continued use of tobacco. This report is aimed at helping smoking

control advocates, researchers and decision makers in establishing economic research agendas

that sustain tobacco control programs.

This evaluation will check the cost effectiveness of tobacco smoking cessation among

women of all ages in India. Cost effective analysis seek to determine the cost-effectiveness of

programs and initiatives. The data for this evaluation will be extracted from previous studies and

compared to the proposed initiative. More importantly, this intervention is India- based,

therefore, it will seek to evaluate smoking control in India. The program seeks to involve 900

smokers in the initiative. Uncertainties will be handled by ensuring that the comparison of results

is representative.

The ‘Friends Quit – friendship pairs to help women quit smoking’ program is a multi-

faceted one year community based initiative that seeks to help women quit smoking. It deploys a

nonrandomized approach. The program employs a supportive approach that pairs individuals to
help them quit smoking. On average, it will cost £50 to cause one woman to cease smoking. This

compares to other interventions such as counseling or rehabilitation which might consume up to

£100 in a year. Mundt MP, et al (2018) conducted an economic analysis in a randomized control

trial that incentivized tobacco quitting. They dteremined that the costs decreased to

approximately $2316 compared to $2600 when other methods such as varenicine and telephone

counceslling are used. Rasmussen (2013) studied the cost effectiveness of telephone counseling

to help in the cessation of smoking in Denmark. He determined that compared to other

interventions used in Denmark, telephone counseling on smoking cessation is a cost effective

method. From these studies, it is apparent that telephone counseling coupled with incentivizing

smoking cessation is a cost effective method.

The bottom line is that many initiatives have been deployed to curb smoking. However,

many of them are less cost effective. It is clear that the mechanism deployed by the ‘Friends Quit

– friendship pairs to help women quit smoking’ is a cost effective method compared to other

interventions that have been used over time.