The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) has cautioned its member nations to be vigilant against the tobacco industry’s attempts to influence health policies through financial and in-kind incentives, ahead of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties meeting in Panama next month.
Noting that country surveys consistently show that children aged 13–15 years in most countries are using tobacco and nicotine products, influenced by the tobacco industry marketing tactics, the WHO has designated this year’s World No Tobacco Day to the theme of “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference.”
According to the latest estimates in the WHO tobacco trends report released recently, globally there are 1.25 billion adult tobacco users.
Stating that trends in 2022 show a continued decline in tobacco use rates globally as about 1 in 5 adults worldwide consuming tobacco compared to 1 in 3 in 2000, Dr Ruediger Krech, Director of WHO Department of Health Promotion said that, “Good progress has been made in tobacco control in recent years, but there is no time for complacency.
“I’m astounded at the depths the tobacco industry will go to pursue profits at the expense of countless lives. We see that the minute a government thinks they have won the fight against tobacco the tobacco industry seizes the opportunity to manipulate health policies and sell their deadly products.”
The report shows that 150 countries are successfully reducing tobacco use. Brazil and the Netherlands are seeing success after they implemented MPOWER tobacco control measures, with Brazil making a relative reduction of 35% since 2010 and the Netherlands on the verge of reaching the 30% target, it said. However, India seems to have a long way yet in meeting the goal as it does not find mention on the success list.
Currently the WHO South-East Asian Region has the highest percentage of population using tobacco at 26.5% closely followed by the European Region at 25.3%. The WHO also noted that while the numbers have steadily decreased over the years the world will make it to a 25% relative reduction in tobacco use by 2025, missing the voluntary global goal of 30% reduction from the 2010 baseline. Only 56 countries globally will reach this goal, down four countries since the last report in 2021.
Appreciating the WHO initiative to take the battle head on with the Industry, renowned wrestler and actor Sangram Singh said it is a matter of concern that despite the ban on tobacco advertisements, the industry is spending hefty amounts on promotion of such items by adopting various marketing tactics, at the cost of health of the younger generation.
He also advocated for strict regulations or prohibitions on surrogate tobacco advertisements involving celebrities in films and sports as their acts have a strong impact on impressionable minds of the teenagers and youth.”