WHO calls for steps to control tobacco use

BY A STAFF REPORTER Kathmandu, Feb. 21: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on countries in the South-East Asia Region to intensify efforts to control tobacco and e-cigarette use. 

Issuing a press statement on Tuesday, the WHO regional office for South-East Asia, informed that tobacco consumption in the region was the highest globally including a rise in vaping. 

In a statement, Saima Wazed, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, quoted, “The Region still has the highest number of people using tobacco which puts them at risk of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, respiratory and heart disease. We must try our best to control tobacco and e-cigarette use to protect health and save lives."

According to the office, though tobacco use in the region decreased from 68.96 per cent in 2000 to around 43.7 per cent in 2022, an estimated 411 million people still consumed tobacco. South-East Asia has 280 million smokeless tobacco users, nearly 77 per cent of the global smokeless tobacco users, and around 11 million adolescent tobacco users in the age group of 13-15 years, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the global total.

It informed that the WHO is committed to supporting policies aimed at countering tobacco and e-cigarette industries’ interference for safeguarding the health of the over two billion people in the region. 

Meanwhile, India and Nepal are expected to achieve the NCD target of at least a 30 per cent reduction in tobacco use by 2025 while eight other countries are projected to record declines, though less than 30 per cent.