WHO points to progress in combating smoking in the world – 07/31/2023 – Health

Efforts to limit tobacco use around the world are showing results, and smoking rates are falling globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

In a report, the WHO highlighted that 5.6 billion people —71% of the world’s population— are currently protected by at least one anti-smoking measure, which is five times more than in 2007. , that the worldwide percentage of smokers dropped from 22.8% in 2007 to 17% in 2021.

“Slowly but steadily, more and more people are protected from the ravages of tobacco,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.

In 2008, the WHO launched the MPOWER program, a set of measures to help countries reduce the demand for cigarettes around six axes: protecting the population from tobacco smoke, increasing taxes on this product, monitoring consumption, offer help to anyone who wants to quit smoking, warn about the dangers of smoking and prohibit advertising of cigarettes and related products.

The WHO estimates that if these measures had not been applied, there would be over 300 million smokers in the world today.

Brazil among praised countries

At the top of the list of nations that have implemented all WHO measures are Brazil and Turkey, which were praised by the UN agency. The report further assesses progress in tobacco control and shows that two more nations, Mauritius and the Netherlands, have also implemented the recommendations.

Eight other countries – Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain – are close to adopting all policies and joining the ranks of leading countries in tobacco control

Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of preventable death—an estimated 8.7 million people die each year from smoking and another 1.2 million die from the effects of secondhand smoke.

On the other hand, the WHO pointed out that 44 countries, which are home to 2.3 billion people, have not adopted any of the anti-smoking measures. And 53 still do not even have complete bans on tobacco consumption inside health facilities.

The report also raised concerns about rising e-cigarette consumption, noting that 74 countries remain unregulated for these products. There is also no minimum age to purchase e-cigarettes in almost half of the world’s countries.

Germany raises concern

Unlike Brazil and Turkey, which drew praise, Germany is among the countries of “great concern”, said Rüdiger Krech, director of health promotion at the WHO.

“We can’t really understand why politicians in Germany are so remiss in implementing tobacco control measures,” Krech said.

Krech said Germany’s lack of anti-smoking measures “causes a lot of suffering and leads to unnecessarily high pressure on the health care system” in the country.

He added that indoor smoking bans remained inconsistent across Germany and that warnings against the harmful effects of smoking in public spaces were not adequately publicized.

Also according to the WHO, while the price of food recorded a considerable increase in Germany last year, inflation did not have such an impact on the prices of tobacco products. In practice, they ended up being relatively cheaper compared to other consumer goods, according to Krech.