Tobacco Free Month, which began on November 1, 2019, is an opportunity to take stock of tobacco use around the globe.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a billion people consume tobacco in different forms. However, this plant kills almost half of these consumers. Between 2000 and 2016, the global proportion of smokers decline from 27% to 20% , a decrease of 7%. As a reminder, the WHO aimed to reduce tobacco use worldwide by 30% by 2025. However, as things stand, this objective is very unlikely to be achieved. Moreover, one of the main concerns of the WHO concerns young people. In fact, 11% of children aged 13 to 15 consume tobacco, a population of approximately 37 million people!
There are still some positives. Among men over the age of fifteen, 43% were smokers in 2000. In 2015, this share fell to 34% . Among women, the number of smokers fell from 11% to 6% during the same period. Overall, the number of smokers has declined in countries funding quit smoking campaigns. However, only 12.5% of them should achieve the famous 30% reduction target by 2025.
The WHO estimates that 80% of the number of smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, 25% of countries do not have enough data to monitor the evolution of tobacco use and its effects.
WHO wishes to further support actions in these countries. This could go through the ban on advertising , the introduction of taxes, as well as the adoption of neutral packaging. The organization calls for global unity in this fight against the tobacco industry. Finally, even if the electronic cigarette is currently at the heart of an intense debate, we must not forget that tobacco causes the death of approximately 8 million people every year!
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