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Stronger initiatives needed in fight against tobacco
The WHO has said countries in South and East Asia need to improve tax measures, strengthen law enforcement and enhance cessation efforts to protect people against the ill-effects of tobacco, which continues to be a major public health issue
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he WHO has said countries in South and East Asia need to improve tax measures, strengthen law enforcement and enhance cessation efforts to protect people against the ill-effects of tobacco, which continues to be a major public health issue.
'Increasing tobacco taxes is the most cost-effective measure of tobacco control, it is a win-win approach for government revenues and the health of the population,' the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
'Governments need to tax all tobacco products in a manner that people do not opt out of one expensive product to a less expensive one,' it further said.
According to WHO official data, tobacco kills approximately 6 million people annually. Around 20 percent of people killed by tobacco live in the South and East Asian region, which accounts for 25 percent of the world's smokers and almost 90 percent of smokeless tobacco users.
It is estimated that there are about 246 million smokers and 290 million smokeless tobacco users in the region.
The WHO says taxing all tobacco products comparably is a must to prevent incentives for substitution.
'Currently governments are levying much less tax on smokeless tobacco and regulations do not cover all aspects of smokeless tobacco use. Smokeless tobacco is the main cause of oral cancer in the region,' the UN body said.
WHO further said tax structure needed to be simplified to become more effective.
'At the moment most countries have a complex and tiered tax structure that is not only difficult to administer but also creates loopholes that undermine both the health and revenue impacts of tobacco excise taxes,' it said.
While revising and setting tobacco taxes, the WHO said, countries must ensure that taxes are always high enough to offset any increases in incomes and purchasing power.
'Equally important is the strong administration of tobacco taxes and crackdown on illicit trade of tobacco to reap the public health benefits of tobacco tax increase,' it says. (ebf)(+++)
