Why Governments Must Prioritise Sustained Tobacco Control Investment in Low- & Middle-Income Nations

Credit: WHO/2017By Ryan Forrest, Sara Rose TaylorOTTAWA, Sep 2 2019 (IPS) Trends in global consumption of cigarettes haven’t improved since the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) came into force, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) earlier this summer. Perhaps this is because the FCTC on its own is not a magic bullet. Governments have paid the issue of tobacco-use a lot of lip service but they have invested very little to match the global burden of the epidemic. Simply agreeing on what needs to be done (i.e. negotiating and ratifying the FCTC) will not on its own lead to reductions in tobacco use. What’s important is whether countries are adopting, implementing and enforcing tobacco control laws and policies in line with their obligations under the treaty. Tobacco control policies work when implemented, and one of the key lessons to take from the study in the BMJ is that countries urgently need support to do so. Framing the debate on FCTC impact Among the most quickly and most universally ratified treaties in existence, FCTC has long been hailed as a breakthrough in efforts to protect the world’s citizens and economies from the harmful effects of tobacco use, which remains a leading global cause of preventable death. Credit: BMJ 2019;365:l2287The FCTC has also been looked to as a testing ground for new approaches to global health governance; a potentially replicable model that could be ap...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Development & Aid Environment Featured Global Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news