Today's Edition
SAMIHAH ZAMAN (ABU DHABI)
Measures linked to falling tobacco use worldwide now reach 6.1 billion people - or 75 percent of the global population, according to a report from the World Health Organization.
The report, issued at the recent World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, found that 2.6 billion people in 79 countries are covered by smoke-free policies in indoor public places.
The report looked at adoption of the WHO’s package of tobacco control measures: MPOWER. Introduced in 2008, the measures include monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, warning about tobacco’s dangers, raising taxes on tobacco products, and enforcing tobacco advertising bans.
In 2007, just 15 percent of the world’s population was covered by any one tobacco control measure.
Tobacco control measures have now been put into practice in 155 countries, the WHO writes, and four countries - Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Turkey - have adopted the entire package. Seven more countries, including Ireland, Slovenia and Spain, are one measure away from this achievement.
Large graphic health warnings are now required in 110 countries, compared to just nine when reporting began in 2007.
At the same time, 40 countries still have no tobacco control measure at best-practice level.
And although it remains cost-effective to require graphic images - such as diseased organs or barrels of toxic chemicals on tobacco packaging - the WHO writes, they’re often left off smokeless tobacco products and emerging nicotine and tobacco products.
The report was released alongside a data tool that tracks progress between 2007 and 2024.
"The results speak for themselves: millions of lives saved, smoking rates declining, and a shift in public attitudes toward tobacco control,” writes WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the report.
The tobacco and related industries are aggressively targeting young people with e-cigarettes and other new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products. The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine. Protecting young people from these products must be a top priority," he added.
The WHO estimates that between 2007 and 2023, global average smoking prevalence fell from 22.3 percent to 16.4 percent, with smoking rates falling across country income groups and gender.
