UN sees progress in fight against tobacco, warns more action needed to help people quit deadly product

AKIPRESS.COM - With five billion people today - four times more people than a decade ago - living in countries that have introduced smoking bans, graphic warnings on packaging and other effective tobacco control measures, many governments are making progress in the fight against tobacco. But a new WHO report out on Friday shows many countries are still not adequately implementing policies, including helping people quit tobacco, that can save lives. It urges governments to implement cessation services as part of efforts to ensure universal health coverage for their citizens.
The seventh WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic analyses national efforts to implement the most effective measures from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) that are proven to reduce demand for tobacco.
These measures, like the so-named ‘MPOWER' interventions, have been shown to save lives and reduce costs from averted healthcare expenditure. The MPOWER report was launched in 2007 to promote government action on six tobacco control strategies in-line with the WHO FCTC to monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; to protect people from tobacco smoke; to offer help to quit tobacco use; to warn people about the dangers of tobacco; to enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; to raise taxes on tobacco.
The focus of the latest report is on the progress countries have made to help tobacco users quit. It is being launched today in Brazil, a country that has become the second, after Turkey, to fully implement all the MPOWER measures at the highest level of achievement.