The World Health Organisation(WHO) has said that despite the vast number of public campaigns and awareness programmes, smoking is still the number one avoidable cause of death worldwide killing almost 6 million people an year, which include both low and middle income countries.
At a conference held yesterday in Panama, the WHO briefly revealed that the numbers could rise up to almost 8 million an year by the year 2030 seeing the current trends of deaths caused by smoking.
The report suggested that about 80% of the deaths caused by tobacco intake and tobacco related deaths forecast for 2030 is expected in the low and the middle income countries.
Director General Dr Margaret Chan:
The Director General Dr Margaret Chan said, “If we do not close ranks and ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, adolescents and young adults will continue to be lured into tobacco consumption by an ever-more aggressive tobacco industry,”.
“Every country has the responsibility to protect its population from tobacco-related illness, disability and death.”
According to WHO’s report, 5 million people died of tobacco usage this year.
They were either current tobacco users or former users, while people who died of second hand smoke was almost 600,000.
The report also suggests tobacco would be a cause of death for almost 100 million people in the 20th Century.
WHO has warned saying that the deaths caused by the use of tobacco could easily reach the billion mark for this century. Except for a few changes, this figure could easily be reached making the use of tobacco the leading cause of deaths worldwide.
Dr Douglas Bettcher-Director of the WHO`s Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases department:
Dr Douglas Bettcher, the Director of the WHO`s Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases department said, “We know that only complete bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship are effective,” , at the Panama conference.
He also added “Countries that introduced complete bans together with other tobacco control measures have been able to cut tobacco use significantly within only a few years,”.
According to the report, the number of people who benefit from smoking restrictions over the last 5 years has been doubled but it is still one third of the total would’s population.
Almost 2.3 billion people in 92 countries have been benefited by the smoking restrictions.
