The World Health Organization stated on Tuesday that there has been a steady decline in the number of adult tobacco users in recent years, but it cautioned that Big Tobacco is making great efforts to buck the trend.
According to the UN health agency, one in five persons worldwide smoked or used other tobacco products in 2022, up from one in three in 2000.
According to the WHO, 150 countries are effectively lowering tobacco use, according to a recent analysis that examined changes in the prevalence of tobacco use between 2000 and 2030.
Although most nations are seeing a decline in smoking rates, the WHO issued a warning, predicting a prolonged period of elevated tobacco-related mortality.
According to WHO data, tobacco use still kills over eight million people year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke.
According to Tuesday’s research, “Countries implementing strong tobacco control measures can expect to wait about 30 years between seeing an associated turnaround in the number of deaths due to tobacco and turning the prevalence rate from increasing to decreasing.”
‘No time to be complacent.’ –
Moreover, the WHO stated that despite a continuous decline in the number of smokers, the global target of a thirty-percent reduction in tobacco use between 2010 and 2025 will likely be missed.
It is anticipated that 56 nations will reach that goal, including Brazil, which has already reduced tobacco usage by 35% since 2010.
Meanwhile, since 2010, tobacco usage has increased in six nations: Oman, the Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Moldova, and Indonesia.
According to the analysis, tobacco usage is expected to decrease by 25% globally over the next 15 years, ending in 2025.
The WHO acknowledged the progress made but cautioned that the tobacco industry intended to reverse those gains.
“While there has been some improvement in tobacco control recently, there is still cause for concern,” stated Ruediger Krech, the head of the WHO’s health promotion division.
“I find it astonishing how far the tobacco industry will go to maximize profits at the cost of countless lives,” he said.
“We observe that the tobacco industry takes advantage of any government belief that they have won the war on tobacco to influence public health regulations and market their harmful products.”
– Oppose “tobacco industry interference”: The World Health Organization called on all nations to uphold and bolster their control measures as well as oppose “tobacco industry interference.”
It stated that improved data collection on tobacco use among teenagers should get special attention, particularly with regard to the more recent “smokeless” products.
According to the survey, 10 percent or so of 13 to 15-year-olds worldwide use tobacco products on a regular basis.
This translates to a minimum of 37 million teenagers, of whom at least 12 million use new smokeless tobacco products.
However, the paper emphasized that because more than 70 nations do not supply statistics, these figures are an underestimation.
This was concerning since the report stated that “countries need these data to counter claims made by the tobacco and related industries that adolescents are not being targeted as new clients.”
The information that is now available indicates that the business strives to thwart national initiatives aimed at deterring youth tobacco use.
The research stated that young people continue to report regular usage of the goods, ease of access to buy them, and minimal fears about developing an addiction.
“The most effective method to fight the business and create laws that effectively stop youth from starting to use tobacco is to collect data from teenagers about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices.”