SEVEN OUT OF 10 PEOPLE PROTECTED BY AT LEAST ONE TOBACCO CONTROL MEASURE: WHO

Thu 03 August 2023:

5.6 billion people, or 71% of the world’s population, are currently protected by at least one best practice policy to reduce fatalities from tobacco use, said a report published by World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.

The Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded report on the global tobacco pandemic seeks to safeguard the general public from secondhand smoke and brings attention to the fact that over 40% of nations have smoke-free indoor public spaces.

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According to a statement from WHO citing the data, smoking rates have decreased as a result of the MPOWER tobacco control program’s global deployment during the past 15 years.

If this decline had not occurred, there would be around 300 million more smokers worldwide, it added.

The report, which assesses the progress made by countries in tobacco control, found that Mauritius and the Netherlands have now achieved a best-practice level in all MPOWER measures, a distinction previously held only by Brazil and Türkiye.

“These data show that slowly but surely, more and more people are being protected from the harms of tobacco by WHO’s evidence-based best-practice policies,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Ghebreyesus continued: “I congratulate Mauritius on becoming the first country in Africa, and the Netherlands on becoming the first in the European Union to implement the full package of WHO tobacco control policies at the highest level.”

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Smoke-free public spaces

Smoke-free public spaces are one of several effective MPOWER policies designed to assist countries in implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and controlling the tobacco epidemic.

“While smoking rates have been going down, tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable death in the world – largely due to relentless marketing campaigns by the tobacco industry,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO global ambassador for noncommunicable diseases and injuries and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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Eight countries need just one more MPOWER policy implementation to join the leaders in tobacco control, the statement said. These countries include Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain.

There is still much work to be done, the report warned, as 44 countries have not implemented any of WHO’s MPOWER measures, and 53 countries still lack complete smoking bans in healthcare facilities. However, only about half of the countries have smoke-free private workplaces and restaurants.

“WHO urges all countries to put in place all of the MPOWER measures at best-practice level to fight the tobacco epidemic, which kills 8.7 million people globally, and push back against the tobacco and nicotine industries, who lobby against these public health measures,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO’s director for health promotion.

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According to the report, 1.3 million people die each year as a result of second-hand smoke exposure.

Individuals exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke are at danger of getting heart disease, stroke, lung disorders, type 2 diabetes, and numerous types of cancer, according to the report, despite the fact that all of these deaths can be avoided totally.

It emphasized that all countries, regardless of income level, can cut demand for lethal tobacco, gain important public health triumphs, and save economies billions of dollars in healthcare and productivity expenses.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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