World No Tobacco Day: Beating tobacco for health and environment development

Action to stamp out tobacco use can help countries prevent millions of people falling ill and dying from tobacco-related disease, combat poverty and reduce large-scale environmental degradation, according to WHO report.

Action to stamp out tobacco use can help countries prevent millions of people falling ill and dying from tobacco-related diseases.

On World No Tobacco Day 2017 (May 31), the World Health Organisation is highlighting how tobacco threatens the development of nations worldwide, and is calling on governments to implement strong tobacco control measures. These include banning marketing and advertising of tobacco, promoting plain packaging of tobacco products, raising excise taxes and making indoor public places and workplaces smoke-free.

Tobacco use kills more than 7 million people every year and costs households and governments over US$1.4 trillion through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Shin Young-soo said: “Tobacco exacerbates poverty, reduces economic productivity, diverts limited household resources to purchase tobacco products rather than food and school materials, forcing many people to pay for medical expenses”.

All countries have committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to strengthen universal peace and eradicate poverty. Key elements of this agenda include implementing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and by 2030 reducing by one-third premature death from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including heart and lung diseases, cancer and diabetes, for which tobacco use is a key risk factor.

In Vietnam, more than 40,000 people die of tobacco use each year. According to a WHO estimate, this number may increase up to 70,000 tobacco-related deaths each year if preventive action is not taken. The economic loss of tobacco is estimated at more than US$1.17 billion, each year. The health and economic impact of tobacco accumulates with time, so action is needed now to prevent an increasing trend of tobacco related mortality and economic losses in the years to come.

(Source: NDO)