By Xinhua
New York : The world has not done enough to carry out necessary anti-smoking measures to prevent tens of millions of premature deaths, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report released Thursday.
In the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide and unless urgent action is taken, it could kill one billion during the 21st century, with currently 5.4 million deaths every year, according to the report.
“While efforts to combat tobacco are gaining momentum, virtually every country needs to do more,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in the report.
The agency found that only 5 percent 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,” 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.
The report also expressed concern about the epidemic’s impact on the developing world, where, by 2030, 80 percent of the eight million tobacco-related deaths yearly are expected to occur.
This shift, the report says, results from a global tobacco industry strategy to target young people and adults in the developing world, ensuring that millions of people become fatally addicted every year. The targeting of young women in particular is highlighted as one of the “most ominous potential developments of the epidemic’s growth.”
Currently, lower-income countries receive 9,000 times the amount of money from tobacco taxes than they spend on tobacco control.
The global analysis, compiled by WHO with information provided by 179 member states, gives governments and other groups a baseline from which to monitor efforts to stop the epidemic in the years ahead.
The study, partly funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, also found that 40 percent 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 percent of the global population.