PHA-Exch> COUNTRIES NOT TAKING ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO PREVENT SMOKING DEATHS - UN

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au


COUNTRIES NOT TAKING ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO PREVENT SMOKING DEATHS – UN
New York, Feb  7 2008 12:00PM
No country has carried out all of the anti-smoking measures necessary to
forestall illness, the UN World Health Organization
(<"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr04/en/index.html
">WHO)
said in a new
<"http://www.who.int/entity/tobacco/mpower/mpower_report_full_2008.pdf
">report
released today, suggesting a half dozen plans of attack to avert tens of
millions of premature deaths in the coming decades.

"While efforts to combat tobacco are gaining momentum, virtually every
country
needs to do more," said Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.

The agency found that only 5 per cent of the world's population reside in
countries fully protecting residents with any one of the crucial measures to
reduce smoking rates.

The report noted that governments collect 500 times more money in tobacco
taxes
annually than they spend on anti-tobacco initiatives.

In nearly all countries, WHO said that tobacco taxes could be raised, the
most
effective strategy in combating tobacco, and the additional funds can be
used to
kick-start new strategies called MPOWER.

"These strategies are within the reach of every country, rich or poor and,
when
combined as a package, they offer us the best chance of reversing this
growing
epidemic," Dr. Chan said.

MPOWER urges nations to: "Monitor" tobacco use and prevention policies;
*"Protect" people from tobacco smoke; "Offer" help to quite tobacco use;
"Warn"
about the dangers of tobacco; "Enforce" bans on tobacco advertising,
promotion
and sponsorship; and "Raise" taxes on tobacco.
*
"This package will create an enabling environment to help current tobacco
users
quit, protect people from second-hand smoke and prevent young people from
taking
up the habit," said Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO's Tobacco Free
Initiative.

Today's report also highlighted the epidemic's impact on the developing
world,
where, by 2030, 80 per cent of the eight million tobacco-related deaths
yearly
are expected to occur.

Currently, lower-income countries receive 9,000 times the amount of money
from
tobacco taxes than they spend on tobacco control.

The study, partly funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, also found that 40 per
cent of countries still allow smoking in hospitals and schools, and services
to
treat dependence on tobacco are only fully available in nine countries, or 5
per
cent of the global population.

In August 2006, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he was
contributing $125 million over two years to a worldwide anti-smoking
initiative,
a donation which is many times larger than any prior donation for global
tobacco
control.
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