Fifteen years of global tobacco control have reduced by three hundred million the number of smokers expected if smoking rates had not fallen since 2007. A breakthrough welcomed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in his latest report on “The Global Tobacco Epidemic” published Monday, July 31, while warning: ” There is still a lot to do “say the authors.
In 2020, more than 22% of the world’s population aged 15 and over smoked daily or occasionally, down 12% from the start of the century. However, only 40% of countries now provide closed public places that are completely smoke-free. According to the WHO analysis, fifty-three countries, including Uzbekistan or Botswana, have still not imposed a total ban on smoking in health establishments, and there are no private workplaces and smoke-free restaurants than in about half of the countries.
Smoking thus causes the death of more than eight million people every year in the world, including approximately 1.2 million subject to passive smoking. Of the estimated 1.3 billion smokers, most (80%) live in middle- and low-income countries, further deepening poverty through the cost of buying cigarettes and their health consequences . “Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death worldwide – a situation largely due to the relentless marketing campaigns of the tobacco industry”says Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO Ambassador for Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries.
Increase taxes
Since the signing of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 – the first binding international treaty adopted by the organization – several strategies have been put forward to succeed in curbing tobacco consumption: protecting the population against smoking, offering help to people who want to quit smoking, setting up awareness campaigns, enforcing the ban on tobacco advertising and finally increasing taxes. It is according to this outline of measures that the WHO evaluates the efforts made by the States.
As a result, according to the WHO, only four countries have succeeded in implementing best practices: Brazil and Turkey, joined this year by Mauritius and the Netherlands, the only country in the European Union to have fully activated all the levers offered. In total, 5.6 billion people, or 71% of the world’s population, are today covered by at least one policy promoted by the WHO.
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