BALTIMORE, Feb. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — With the COVID-19 pandemic still a concern as 2022 begins, arm yourself with knowledge about the connection between tobacco use and COVID-19 with a free online course from the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Updated with new information in late 2021, COVID-19 and Tobacco Use covers topics such as the impact of smoking on COVID-19, the effects of nicotine at a molecular level, and the behavior of the tobacco industry during the pandemic.

Current evidence shows the negative impacts of smoking on COVID-19 outcomes, providing one more compelling reason and an added sense of urgency for people to quit using tobacco products. As infections continue to disrupt daily living, any step taken to curb the negative outcomes of COVID-19 should be explored and implemented. This course can help amplify that effort.

The COVID-19 and Tobacco Use course joins a distinguished suite of existing free online courses, which have been completed by more than 6,700 participants from more than 100 countries around the world.

Global Tobacco Control: Learning from the Experts is a comprehensive primer on the tobacco epidemic featuring 27 subject matter experts from 14 countries. Participants in the course will get a unique global perspective on the burden of tobacco on death and disease and evidence-based solutions to reduce it.

Learning from the Experts: A Course for Healthcare Providers is an online course developed with input from globally acclaimed tobacco control advocates in healthcare careers. Designed for busy healthcare providers, this course provides up-to-date information about the role healthcare professionals can play in tobacco control, and how to help their patients quit tobacco. Recent updates to the course include how cessation medication works; how to help a patient quit smokeless tobacco and other non-cigarette tobacco products; and addressing practical issues clinicians face when helping their patients quit tobacco.

All three courses are free to any user around the world and feature a responsive design that allows users to take the course at their own pace on any device. Users who complete a course receive a certificate of completion from the Institute for Global Tobacco Control.