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Tobacco Control

Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world, responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide, or about five million deaths each year. It is estimated that half of the people who smoke today will eventually be killed by the direct or indirect effects of tobacco.

Schoolboys join to campaign against smoking
on World Anti-Tobacco Day.

In addition to the high public health costs of treating tobacco-caused diseases, like other lung health diseases, tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity, depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce. The World Health Organization expects that in the next century, tobacco use will take a greater claim on human health than any single disease.

The World Lung Foundation supports the activities of a variety of groups and organizations active in tobacco control, and seeks to increase public health system attention to the negative effects of tobacco in the developing world. The Foundation endorses the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first public health treaty. The treaty mandates bans on direct and indirect tobacco advertising, tobacco tax and price increases, smoke-free environments in public and workplaces, and health messages on tobacco packaging - and limits the predatory behavior of the international tobacco industry.

The Bloomberg Initiative

The World Lung Foundation receives funds from a $125 million dollar initiative established by Michael R. Bloomberg. The initiative includes five key organizations to implement a multi-sectoral program that will help low- and middle-income countries to make progress toward being tobacco-free. They include the World Lung Foundation, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the World Health Organization.

The key components of the initiative are to:

• Refine and optimize tobacco control programs to help smokers quit and prevent children from starting.
• Support public sector efforts to pass and enforce key laws and implement effective policies, in particular to tax cigarettes, prevent smuggling, change the image of tobacco, and protect workers from exposure to other peoples' smoke.
• Support advocates' efforts to educate communities about the harms of tobacco and to enhance control activities so as to help make the world tobacco-free.
• Develop a rigorous system to monitor the status of global tobacco use.

Michael R. Bloomberg and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden recently described how this initiative and other efforts can save 100 million lives. See the Lancet to read their article. You will have access to the full text of the article after a simple, no-cost registration process.

Efforts are focused on low and middle income countries with high tobacco burdens. In these countries, between 10% and 25% of all deaths of men over 35 are due to tobacco use.

Governments and non-governmental organizations in these countries cannot work alone; only collaboration and information sharing can counter tobacco-company lobbying and poor knowledge about the dangers of smoking. To foster cooperation, the World Lung Foundation will support the Framework Convention Alliance, an international coalition of over 260 organizations undertaking advocacy.

The World Lung Foundation has obtained expertise and policy acumen through the hiring of Dr. Judith Mackay as Project Coordinator. Dr. Mackay has extensive experience mobilizing governmental and non-governmental partners. She was previously a senior policy advisor at WHO and Director of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control. Dr. Mackay believes that "the Bloomberg project will make a vast difference by enhancing tobacco control efforts in developing countries. The activities are practical, and focus on results."