TOBACCO USERS
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Context
- The number of people using tobacco globally decreased to 1.30 billion in 2020, from 1.32 billion in 2015, the World Health Organization WHO has reported.
Findings
- About 70 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users did not have access to tools to help them to quit successfully.
- Taxation was the single most effective tool for reducing tobacco use.
- But the illicit trade in tobacco products undermined the effectiveness of tax policies.
- Illegal tobacco trade is a threat to public health as it increases access to often cheaper tobacco products.
- The access to such products fuels the tobacco epidemic and undermines tobacco control policies.
- It also causes substantial losses in government revenues.
- Eliminating the illicit trade in tobacco products is an important goal for public health.