WHO: Progress against smoking but still 7 million victims

Over 6 billion people in the world are today protected by at least one of the measures to reduce the tobacco use. In 2007, this coverage was guaranteed to only 1 billion individuals. "But there are still some gaps" and "over 7 million people lose their lives every year due to smoking, to which is added a million victims of passive smoking". The report 'Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025', presented by the World Health Organization of Health in Dublin, during the World Conference on tobacco control. The measures introduced so far include monitoring of the consumption, protection from passive smoking, support for stop smoking, health warnings on packages, the advertising ban and increased taxation. According to the document, four countries (Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Türkiye) have adopted all the required measures, while others seven are close to completing the package. However, there remain strong disparities because 40 states do not apply any measures in line with WHO standards and more than 30 still allow the sale of cigarettes without warnings compulsory health measures, which have however been introduced in 110 countries compared to just 9 in 2007. On the fiscal front, in the last three years, only three states They increased the excise duty on tobacco in line with the WHO recommendations. Another critical point concerns the e-cigarettes. Although 133 countries have adopted specific regulations, over 60 do not have adequate standards. The report also signals a slowdown in the campaigns anti-tobacco media: as of 2022, 110 countries will not they haven't even started one.