Who Urges Countries To Strengthen Tobacco Control

JAKARTA, May 31 (Bernama) -- The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls on all countries globally, including in the South-East Asia region, to take immediate and ongoing action to strengthen tobacco control. WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said tobacco’s devastating impact on health and well-being, as well as the environment, are well known. “We must strengthen existing tobacco control measures including legal and regulatory mechanisms, as well tobacco cessation services, especially at the primary level,” she said in a statement. She pointed out that every country should also implement the high-impact, evidence-based and cost-effective countermeasures outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its MPOWER package, reducing not only demand but also supply. MPOWER is a policy package intended to assist in the country-level implementation of effective interventions to reduce the demand for tobacco. In conjunction with “World No Tobacco Day”, Dr Khetrapal highlighted about 198 million people in the region smoke, 266 million use smokeless tobacco and 1.6 million people die of tobacco-related diseases annually. About 3.5 million hectares of land globally are destroyed yearly for tobacco cultivation, which 90 per cent in the developing world, where countries are prey to intensive tobacco industry interference and marketing tactics. Therefore, policymakers, industry groups, farmers and other stakeholders have to reckon with and address the vast environmental impacts of tobacco cultivation, she said. -- BERNAMA