The World Health Organisation says it is optimistic that the world will achieve a 25 per cent reduction in tobacco usage by 2025 despite the tobacco industry’s efforts to jeopardize the progress made so far.
The global health body said while the numbers have steadily decreased over the years, the world will make it to a 25 per cent relative reduction in tobacco use by 2025, missing the voluntary global goal of 30 percent reduction from the 2010 baseline.
The UN agency which stated that only 56 countries globally would reach this goal, urged countries to continue putting in place tobacco control policies and to continue to fight against tobacco industry interference.
According to the WHO Director of the Department of Health Promotion, Dr. Ruediger Krech, “Good progress has been made in tobacco control in recent years, but there is no time for complacency.
“I’m astounded at the depths the tobacco industry will go to pursue profits at the expense of countless lives. We see that the minute a government thinks they have won the fight against tobacco the tobacco industry seizes the opportunity to manipulate health policies and sell their deadly products”, he said.
Worldwide, there are 1.25 billion adult tobacco users, according to the latest estimates in the WHO tobacco trends report out on Tuesday.
“The trends in 2022 show a continued decline in tobacco use rates globally. With about one in five adults worldwide consuming tobacco compared to one in three in 2000,” the WHO said.
The report also shows that 150 countries are successfully reducing tobacco use, indicating that Brazil has made a relative reduction of 35 percent since 2010, while the Netherlands was on the verge of reaching the 30 percent target.
