Americas on track towards tobacco reduction target  

  –  WHO global report on tobacco prevalence

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, June 6, 2018

The Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Region of the Americas is likely to be the first in the world to reduce tobacco use by 30 per cent.

According to WHO’s global report on tobacco prevalence, the rest of the world is off track to meet tobacco reduction with exception of the Region of the Americas.

The Region of the Americas is set on a course of reducing tobacco use among males and females by 2025. However, after an overall assessment there is a steady reduction in tobacco use, globally.

This can be attributed to efforts made by several countries to accelerate the implementation of the WHO-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In years to come., Countries like Guyana, having implemented new tobacco control legislations can have an impact on the use of use of tobacco and cigarettes.

The WHO-FCTC was developed in response to the global need to combat the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty signed on to by WHO member states. This action recommits governments to seeking ways to maintaining the right to the highest standard of health for all people.

The Region of the Americas consists of north, south and central American states. However, a third of countries in the Americas are not implementing a single tobacco control measure when global statistics indicate that tobacco kills more than 7 million people each year.

The global report on tobacco prevalence shows the pace of action in reducing tobacco demand and related death and disease is too slow and not keeping up with global and national commitments to control tobacco use.

The report also shows that the target of a 30 per cent reduction in tobacco use by 2025 among people aged 15 and older is not on track to being met at the global level, with the current pace of decline indicating only a 22 per cent reduction by that time. The Region of the Americas is the only exception in this regard.

By: Delicia Haynes.