Tobacco linked to poverty in inextricable ‘vicious circle’
– UN health agency
ADEZE OJUKWU
New Jersey, USA
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
As
the world marks this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization
(WHO) predicts a looming tragedy of about 10 million deaths per year by 2025 and
another 1 billion deaths from tobacco use during this century.
Tobacco use, according to the agency, claims one life every 6.5 seconds and causes an estimated annual economic loss of $200 billion worldwide, “The world cannot accept such easily preventable human and economic losses,” WHO’s Director-General Lee Jong-wook said in a message released today to mark the Day, observed on 31 May and being held this year under the slogan “Tobacco and Poverty: a vicious circle.”
The agency said it has therefore devoted this year’s World No Tobacco Day to the “vicious circle” to call global attention and action to the inextricable links between tobacco and poverty.
Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide, about 5 million deaths each year. If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2025. Half the people that smoke today -that is about 650 million people- will eventually be killed by tobacco, according to the apex health organization.
Tobacco is the fourth most common risk factor for disease worldwide. The economic costs of tobacco use are equally devastating. In addition to the high public health costs of treating tobacco-caused diseases, tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity, depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce. Tobacco users are also less productive while they are alive due to increased sickness. A 1994 report estimated that the use of tobacco resulted in an annual global net loss of US$ 200 thousand million, a third of this loss being in developing countries.
It was also gathered that ‘tobacco is the single greatest cause of disease and premature in America today. It is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths each year. Nearly 25 percent of the adult population smoke and 3,000 children and adolescents become regular users of tobacco every day.’
Studies across all regions in the world show that it is the poorest people who tend to smoke the most in both developing and developed countries, and who bear most of the disease burden. People with less education also tend to consume more tobacco. A recent study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, concludes that smoking prevalence among people with four or less years of studies is 26 per cent compared with a 17 per cent for those with nine or more years of schooling. The trend is similar for income levels.
With regard to the economic impact, a major study undertaken in 1994 estimated that tobacco results in an annual global net loss of $200 billion, a third of it in developing countries. The World Bank estimates that high-income countries spend currently between 6 per cent and 15 per cent of their total health-care costs to treat tobacco-related diseases.
This year’s campaign also highlights that an overwhelming majority of small tobacco farmers, especially in developing countries, live in poverty.
“Precarious labour conditions, including the use of child labour and exposure to highly toxic products, and a highly negative impact on the environment make tobacco an issue inextricably linked to poverty and other development issues,” said Catherine le Galès-Camus, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.
Last year the 192-member WHO unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global treaty requiring countries to restrict tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, set new labeling and clean indoor air controls and strengthen legislation to clamp down on tobacco smuggling.
So far the treaty, which needs 40 ratifications to enter into force, has been signed by 118 countries and ratified by 16. But
WHO notes that the tobacco epidemic is still expanding, especially in developing countries where, currently, 84 per cent of smokers live. Tobacco use kills 4.9 million people each year, a toll that is expected to double in the next 20 years. At current rates, the total number of tobacco users is expected to rise to 1.7 billion by 2025 from 1.3 billion now.
Themes of previous editions include:
· Tobacco free film, tobacco free fashion- 2003
· 2002: tobacco free sports
· 2001: second-hand smoke kills
· 2000: tobacco kills, don't be duped
· 1999 Leave the pack behind
· 1998 Growing up without tobacco
· 1997 United for a tobacco free world
· 1996 Sport and art without tobacco: play it tobacco free
· 1995 Tobacco costs more than you think
· 1994 Media and tobacco: get the message across
· 1993 Health services: our windows to a tobacco free world
· 1992 Tobacco free workplaces: safer and healthier
· 1991 Public places and transport: better be tobacco free
· 1990 Childhood and youth without tobacco: growing up without tobacco