“Having taken up smoking at the age of 14, I was smoking 40 [cigarettes] a day by the age of 20. And as a 21st birthday present to myself I gave up. But today, 40 years later […] I still feel like a fag sometimes. That is how addictive smoking is,” said Andrea Leadsom, a […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN – In Lebanon, international donors are supporting a network of public primary health care centers to test for diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), offering treatment equally to Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees who are unlikely to return anytime soon to their war-torn homeland. In Kenya, a new national insurance law aims to make […] Continue reading ->
The Tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) sidestepped a controversial debate on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products – effectively kicking the can on any decisions related to regulation of that swelling market to the next meeting in two years time. However, the parties at the conference, […] Continue reading ->
“Tobacco [is] the biggest public health threat the world has ever faced. […] Together we have made great progress. We have saved lives,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated at the opening of the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) on the Framework Convention Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Panama on […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lauded the success of tobacco control measures at the Wednesday evening session of the Executive Board meeting, but expressed concerns about the growing use of harmful products like e-cigarettes among youth. He urged member states, “to take swift action to counter this emerging threat” of children […] Continue reading ->
Tobacco use amongst women in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European region is more than double the global average and is reducing much slower than in all other regions. Some 65 million women smoke in the region, representing 40% of all female smokers in the world, according to the WHO’s tobacco trends report released on […] Continue reading ->
Despite strong evidence that taxing alcohol is one of the “most effective measures to reduce consumption and address alcohol-related harms”, countries are not using this effectively, according to Ruediger Krech, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director of health promotion. Krech was speaking on Tuesday at the launch of a WHO manual on alcohol tax policy […] Continue reading ->
Tobacco industry interference in governments’ tobacco control policies has increased in 43 out of 90 countries analysed over the past two years. This is according to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 released on Tuesday by tobacco watchdog STOP, and the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC). “No country has been […] Continue reading ->
Alcohol has had a fairly easy pass from public health authorities – although the World Health Organization (WHO) recently asserted that there is no safe level of drinking, upending many people’s cherished illusion that a glass of alcohol at the end of the day is harmless. RESET Alcohol, a new public health initiative led by […] Continue reading ->
BLANTYRE, Malawi – Boyden Ndlovu of Mzimba district, one of Malawi’s tobacco growing districts located in the northern region says that his lifetime has been synonymous with tobacco farming. Tobacco has been a mainstay of Malawi’s economy, historically generating about 70% of export revenue and now accounting for over half – yet the country finally […] Continue reading ->