Century 21, One Billion Deaths Due to Tobacco

World Health Organization (WHO) in a report Thursday (7 / 2/2008), estimates that some 1 billion people worldwide will die from smoking in the 21st century if the government and civilians did not immediately act to overcome the epidemic of tobacco use. One hundred million deaths due to tobacco is recorded in the 20 th century ago.

If this trend continues, there will be increased to one billion deaths in the 21st century. If not controlled, death related to tobacco will increase by more than eight million per year in 2030, and 80 percent of these deaths will occur in developing countries, said the report submitted WHO Director General Margaret Chan, in a news conference with Mayor New York, Michael Bloomberg.

This figure is the result of a study that reveals important data and control tobacco use in the country or countries representing more than 99 percent of the population. The study also recommends the need for implementation of the six layered strategy to combat the epidemic.

Six of this strategy is to monitor tobacco use and prevention policies, protecting people from smoking, offering help to quit using tobacco, warned about the dangers of tobacco, the prohibition applies to the promotion and advertising of tobacco products, as well as raise taxes on tobacco.

1 billion tobacco

While efforts to combat tobacco gaining momentum, virtually all countries have a larger role. There are six strategies that can be applied to every country and when combined into something packet, then it will give us the best chance to reverse this growing epidemic, said Chan.

The WHO report also noted that tobacco use has grown very rapidly in the low-income countries. With a permanent population growth, these countries became the target of the tobacco industry, so that millions of people each year become addicted.

It is said in the report, nearly two-thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries: namely China (30 percent), India (10 percent), Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany and Turkey.

The report also noted, only five percent of the world's population covered by the national legislation of anti-smoking comprehensive. Whereas the other half of the population - two-thirds live in developing countries - did not even have minimal data on tobacco use.

In many countries, tobacco use is higher among the poor than the rich.

And the poor suffer more from the consequences of diseases related to tobacco, causing economic suffering and perpetuate the cycle of poverty and disease, the report says .

According to the data, current tobacco use has caused the cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year. In a country the U.S. alone, economic losses estimated at around 92 billion dollars in year.

Source: http://www.kompas.com