No single country has carried out all of the anti-smoking
measures necessary to forestall illness, the World Health
Organization (WHO) said in a new report released on Thursday.
"While efforts to combat tobacco are gaining momentum, virtually
every country needs to do more," said Margaret Chan,
director-general of the UN agency.
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 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.
MPOWER urges nations to "monitor" tobacco use and prevention
policies, "offer" help to quit tobacco use, "enforce" bans on
tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and "raise" taxes on
tobacco.
"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.
The new report also highlighted the epidemic's impact on the
developing world, where, by 2030, 80 percent of the 8 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 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.
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(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2008)
