European Commission Makes Key Contribution to Tobacco Control

"Investing in People" initiative will help low and middle-income countries save lives

Posted by: Marina Carter, International Press Secretary | Oct 3, 2011

Seeking to speed progress on tobacco control and save lives, the European Commission is providing 5.2 Million Euros (U.S. $7 million) to help low and middle-income countries effectively implement the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global public health treaty.

This funding will help accelerate countries' efforts to implement scientifically proven measures called for in the FCTC.

If effectively implemented, the treaty will be a turning point in reducing tobacco use and its devastating consequences around the world.

 

Its requirements include:

• A ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships

• Large, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs

• Comprehensive smoke-free laws

• Tobacco product price increases, particularly through taxation

As smoking has declined in the United States and other high-income nations, the tobacco industry has targeted low and middle-income countries for new customers, aggressively marketing its products in countries where government regulation is lax.  The cost to health and economies around the world is staggering.         

Tobacco use killed one hundred million people in the 20th century.  If current trends continue, tobacco will kill one billion people in the 21st century.

Tobacco use is also the only risk factor shared by all four main categories of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease and diabetes.  These diseases have overtaken infectious disease as the world's leading killers and now cause nearly two out of every three deaths worldwide. As a result, global health leaders have identified tobacco control as a top priority and a "best buy" for governments seeking to reduce the toll of non-communicable disease and improve health.

This funding from the European Commission will complement the global tobacco control work being done to help battle the NCD epidemic.

Read more about tobacco's role in the epidemic of non-communicable disease.