{"id":26792,"date":"2025-07-01T11:46:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T06:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=26792"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:46:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T06:01:50","slug":"tobacco-control-efforts-protect-6-1-billion-people-whos-new-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/tobacco-control-efforts-protect-6-1-billion-people-whos-new-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Tobacco control efforts protect 6.1 billion people\u2014WHO\u2019s new report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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IMAGE: Getty Images\/Zhai Huiyong\/WHO<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its report on the\u00a0Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0World Conference on Tobacco Control<\/a>\u00a0in Dublin, warning that action is needed to maintain and accelerate progress in tobacco control as rising industry interference challenges tobacco policies and control efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report focuses on the six proven\u00a0WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures<\/a>\u00a0to reduce tobacco use, which claims over 7\u00a0million lives a year: monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies; protecting people from tobacco smoke with smoke-free air legislation; offering help to quit tobacco use; w<\/strong>arning about the dangers of tobacco with pack labels and mass media; enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and raising taxes on tobacco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2007, 155 countries have implemented at least one of the WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use at best-practice level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2007, 155 countries have implemented at least one of the WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures to reduce tobacco use at best-practice level. Today, over 6.1\u00a0billion people, three-quarters of the world\u2019s population, are protected by at least one such policy, compared to just 1\u00a0billion in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four countries have implemented the full MPOWER package: Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands (Kingdom of the), and T\u00fcrkiye. Seven countries are just one measure away from achieving the full implementation of the MPOWER package, signifying the highest level of tobacco control: Ethiopia, Ireland, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, and Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are major gaps. Forty countries still have no MPOWER measure at best-practice level, and more than 30 countries allow cigarette sales without mandatory health warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwenty years since the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we have many successes to celebrate, but the tobacco industry continues to evolve, and so must we,\u201d said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. \u201cBy uniting science, policy, and political will, we can create a world where tobacco no longer claims lives, damages economies, or steals futures. Together, we can end the tobacco epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WHO Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report, developed with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, was launched during the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards for Global Tobacco Control. The awards celebrated several governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) making progress to reduce tobacco use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince Bloomberg Philanthropies started supporting global tobacco control efforts in 2007, there has been a sea change in the way countries prevent tobacco use, but there is still a long way to go,\u201d said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries. \u201cBloomberg Philanthropies remains fully committed to WHO\u2019s urgent work\u2014and to saving millions more lives together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WHO Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report reveals that the most striking gains have been in graphic health warnings, one of the key measures under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), that make the harms of tobacco impossible to ignore: 110 countries now require them\u2014up from just 9 in 2007\u2014protecting 62% of the global population, and 25 countries have adopted plain packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO warns, however, that enforcement is inconsistent, and smokeless tobacco packaging remains poorly regulated. The new report is accompanied by a\u00a0new data portal<\/a>\u00a0that tracks country-by-country progress between 2007-2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their effectiveness, 110 countries haven\u2019t run anti-tobacco campaigns since 2022. However, 36% of the global population now lives in countries that have run best-practice campaigns, up from just 19% in 2022. WHO urges countries to invest in message-tested and evaluated campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxes, quit services, and advertising bans have been expanding, but many improvements are needed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n