LONDON, March 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- UK-based public health agency, Knowledge•Action•Change (K•A•C), is launching a free online course called Understanding Tobacco Harm Reduction in a bid to reduce the disease and mortality caused by combustible tobacco and toxic smokeless products.

A free online course called Understanding Tobacco Harm Reduction has been launched by Knowledge•Action•Change in a bid to reduce smoking-related death and disease. Photo credit: Pawel Czerwinski

Smoking-related diseases continue to cause eight million global deaths each year, but nicotine is not the cause of tobacco-related illnesses. For people who cannot, or will not, give up smoking, there is now a range of alternative nicotine-delivery options available that pose fewer risks to health. Encouraging as many of those who smoke to switch to these safer nicotine products (SNP), which include nicotine vapes (e-cigarettes), heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches and snus, provides a massive opportunity for global tobacco harm reduction (THR) efforts to reduce smoking-related disease. This course promotes the evidence base for this potentially life-saving public health intervention to a wide audience.

Building on the success of K•A•C's groundbreaking Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme, which has nurtured more than 100 tobacco harm reduction researchers and advocates from 55 countries, the same team is now providing the opportunity for all those seeking to reduce the toll of smoking to access a high-quality open access course, Understanding Tobacco Harm Reduction.

The course was developed with contributions from a range of experts in public health and tobacco harm reduction, including researchers, medical professionals, and educators. It's funded by a grant from Global Action to End Smoking.

Professor Gerry Stimson, co-founder of K•A•C and Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, said: "This free course is open to everyone – and there's only one eligibility requirement, which is a desire to reduce smoking and tobacco-related harm."

The modular, self-guided programme is designed to be completed over two to three hours and participants will gain a solid introduction to THR, its evidence base and its context among other long-established areas of harm reduction. Assessment is based on the completion of reading modules and practical exercises as well as quizzes. Those who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate which can be added to their personal and professional portfolios.

By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to make informed decisions and advocate for effective harm reduction approaches. Sign up here to join the free, open-access course, Understanding Tobacco Harm Reduction.