Anthropological Contributions to the Development of Culturally Appropriate Tobacco Cessation Programs: A Global Health Priority

This chapter describes Project QTI, a pioneering attempt to find out what we need to know to successfully carry out tobacco cessation in clinical and community settings. Formative research carried out in India and Indonesia is described. Both countries have high prevalence rates of tobacco use across all social classes, popular indigenous as well as imported tobacco products, few cessation activities, and no established tobacco curriculum in medical schools. A biopolitical model is presented for encouraging systematic assessment of tobacco dependency at the sites of the body, environment, and state. The tobacco control field recognizes the value of transdisciplinary research. The chapter describes Project QTI's ongoing attempts to build a community of tobacco cessation practice that spans both efforts to encourage individuals to quit tobacco use and communities to establish smoke free households and worksites.