Smoking Not Just Rich World
Worry, Conference Told

More must be done to fight smoking in the developing world, a vast and growing market for the tobacco industry, a convention in Helsinki heard on Tuesday.

Speakers said more than 80 percent of some 1.1 billion smokers were in poorer countries, making them important targets for tobacco firms hit by a decline in smoking in richer societies.

"There is a misconception that smoking is a rich person's problem," Toronto-based doctor Prabhat Jha told a news conference at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH).

Some 4-5 million people die each year from smoking, the World Health Organization estimates, and that will rise to 10-11 million by 2030.

But some economically vulnerable developing countries lack the political will to fight the problem, partly because they depend on money from big tobacco, South African Health Minister Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang told the conference.

"It is also a significant factor in increasing impoverishment as addicted people use what little money they have to buy tobacco instead of buying food, fuel and other essentials. It is a vicious cycle," she said.

"I (urge) all tobacco control advocates from developed countries... to bring pressure to bear on international development agencies and donor governments to become involved in tobacco control efforts in developing countries," she added.

Reference Source 89

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