The agency celebrates this week the 20thth Anniversary of the entry into force of his framework convention on tobacco control (WHO FCTC) – one of the most widely embraced treaties in the history.
The agreement provides a legal framework and a full set of tobacco control measures based on evidence which includes major pictorial health warnings on cigarette plans, smoking without smoke and the increase in tobacco products .
Up to 5.6 billion people are now covered by at least one tobacco control policy in accordance with the treaty And studies have shown a drop in world smoking rates.
“A plague on humanity”
“”Tobacco is a scourge on humanity – the main cause of death and disease avoidable worldwide“Said the director general of the OMS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He noted that “since the entry into force of the FCTC WHO and the MPOWER technical package which takes care of it, the prevalence of the use of world tobacco has dropped with a third party.”
The Convention is the very first public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. It entered into force on February 27, 2005 and there are currently 183 parts covering approximately 90% of the world’s population.
An event will take place Thursday in Geneva to mark the start of the stage.
Prohibitions and warnings
Thanks to the agreement, 138 countries now require major pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs. Dozens of others have implemented simple packaging rules that require standard shape and appearance without brand, designor a logo.
The two measures serve as powerful tools to reduce tobacco consumption and warn users of the dangers of tobacco consumption, who said.
In addition, more than a quarter of the world’s population is now covered by policies that prohibit smoking inside and in workspaces, saving millions of the dangers of used smoke.
Meanwhile, more than 66 countries have implemented prohibitions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco, which include prohibitions against tobacco advertising in media and sponsorship agreements.
Confront a “fatal” industry
The treaty has also contributed to establishing legal defenses in the tobacco industry, which spends tens of billions of dollars on promotion.
“”The tobacco industry is a deadly industry behind the tobacco epidemicNow trying to position yourself as part of the solution while actively derailing tobacco control efforts that could save millions of additional lives, “said Dr. Adriana Blanco Marquizo, head of the WHO Secretariat .
The Treaty “offers parts of a full set of measures to protect populations from tactics in constant evolution of industry- designed to benefit from the price of people’s lives and the health of our planet”, She added, urging countries “to remain vigilant against her predatory tactics. »»
Tobacco consumption is one of the main avoidable causes of death.
The burden of tobacco
The use of tobacco is a major engine of non -transmitted diseases (MNT), causing premature death and a handicap, which explained.
Tobacco -related diseases lead to catastrophic health expenses, especially for the poor in the world. Smokers are also more likely to lack access to nutrients compared to non-smokers, including in richer countries.
The impacts go even further.
Tobacco cultivation uses large areas of land that could otherwise support sustainable food production systems, while its production is still depleting vital resources such as the land and water necessary to produce food.
In addition, thousands of billions of heavy plastic cigarettes in permanent plastic plastic each year, harming more to the planet.
Public Health Propings
Who said that the tobacco industry “continues to undermine public health efforts, to aggressively target young people by marketing, to put pressure against tobacco control policies and to position themselves within the framework of the solution to the problem that he created. ”
Dr. Blanco Marquizo added that although great progress has been made in tobacco control, it remains more to do as “The tobacco industry continues to kill millions of people a year and its socio-economic charges cause strains on entire populations. “”
It has urged countries to fully implement the measures under the FTC WHO, in particular by increasing tobacco taxes, implementing smokeless laws, applying complete advertising and sponsorship prohibitions, in Prohibiting and regulating the ingredients that form tobacco products and resolving the challenges caused by new tobacco and emerging and emerging and nicotine products.
“Thanks to these measures, we can save the lives of millions of additional people worldwide,” she said.
