Challenges to Current and Future Tobacco Control

Date:

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Time:

3.00pm – 4.30pm

Synopsis:

In 2016, 5.5 trillion cigarettes were consumed worldwide — enough for each man, woman and child, to smoke 2 cigarettes every day. The collective price we pay for so many people inhaling so much cigarette smoke, and its 7,000 chemical compounds, is the loss of 7 million people every year from smoking-attributable causes. Smoking is responsible for one out of every eight deaths from all causes worldwide, as well as the 200 million living with serious smoking-related illnesses and disabilities.

However, recent time–trend data exhibit some encouraging news, as do projections by the World Health Organization (WHO), as to where smoking is headed to the year 2025.

Prof Warner will examine global and regional data on smoking behaviour and consider WHO’s projections, before turning to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), one of the principal influences on tobacco consumption, to assess how well the 181 countries that have ratified the treaty are doing in terms of compliance with its requirements. He will also examine the challenges in pursuing effective tobacco control that are reflected in the limitations of policy implementation.

Two additional developments pertinent to the future of tobacco control will also be considered: the first is the emerging interest in many countries to develop a tobacco ‘endgame’, and the second is a fascinating natural experiment in tobacco harm reduction, one of the most controversial issues in the field of tobacco control.