How do tobacco control policies work in low-income and middle-income countries? A realist synthesis.

Background: The burden of tobacco use is disproportionately high in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). There is scarce theorisation on what works with respect to implementation of tobacco control policies in these settings. Given the complex nature of tobacco control policy implementation, diversity in outcomes of widely implemented policies and the defining role of the context, we conducted a realist synthesis to examine tobacco control policy implementation in LMICs.

Implementation research for taking tobacco control policies to scale in India: a realist evaluation study protocol.

Introduction: There are ongoing policies and programs to reduce tobacco use and minimise the associated health burden in India. However, there are several challenges in practice leading to different outcomes across Indian states. Inadequate understanding of how national tobacco control policies achieve their results under varied circumstances obstruct the implementation and scaling up of effective strategies.