Tobacco ban saving more lives – WHO

smokingThe World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 report on global tobacco epidemic says more people are benefiting from an effective tobacco control measure.

It said at 2.3 billion, the number of people worldwide covered by at least one life-saving measure to limit tobacco use has more than doubled in the last five years.

Mr Tarik Jasarevic, WHO Communications Officer in Geneva made the report available to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.

The number of people covered by bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, the focus of this year’s report, increased by almost 400 million people,  residing mainly in low- and middle-income countries.

Furthermore, the report shows that 3 billion people were now covered by national anti-tobacco campaigns; as a result, hundreds of millions of nonsmokers are less likely to start.

However, the Report noted that to achieve the globally agreed target of a 30 per cent reduction of tobacco use by 2025, more countries have to implement comprehensive tobacco control programmes.

“Bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are one of the most powerful measures to control tobacco use. As of today, 24 countries with 694 million people have introduced complete bans and 100 more countries are close to a complete ban. However, 67 countries currently do not ban any tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship activities or have a ban that excludes advertising in national broadcast and print media.” It stated.

The report noted that tobacco is the leading global cause of preventable death and kills six million people every year; it could cause cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.

It said if current trends continue, the number of deaths attributed to tobacco smoking is projected to rise to eight million a year by 2030, declaring that in defiance of the deleterious effects of smoking, tobacco companies were spending tens of billions of dollars each year on advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The report also looks at effective health warning labels on tobacco packaging, which continue to be established by more countries.

This year’s report is the fourth in the series of WHO reports on the status of the MPOWER measures: Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, Protecting people from tobacco smoke, Offering help to quit tobacco use, Warning people about the dangers of tobacco, Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, Promotion and sponsorship, and Raising taxes on tobacco.

These measures provide countries with practical assistance to reduce demand for tobacco in line with the The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), thereby reducing related illness, disability and death.

The WHO FCTC entered into force in 2005 and, with 177 Parties today, is a powerful tool to combat the deadly tobacco epidemic.

Source: GNA

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