Your Excellency, Taoiseach Micheál Martin,
Prime Minister of Montenegro Milojko Spajić,
WHO Global Ambassador Michael Bloomberg,
Excellencies, distinguished delegates,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you all for joining us today, and I thank The Union and all our partners for their steadfast support for tobacco control.
I would also like to thank the Taoiseach and the government of Ireland for hosting this event, and for your leadership in the fight against tobacco, at home and abroad.
Ireland has long been at the forefront of tobacco control, including being the first country to make all indoor public places smoke-free in 2004, when the Taoiseach was Minister of Health.
Ireland now has an opportunity to follow the Netherlands as the second country in the WHO European Region in achieving the best-practice level of implementation across all MPOWER measures.
There is just one measure where Ireland is not yet at the top level: a comprehensive ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The Taoiseach said Ireland is working on this. We hope to see that final step taken soon - and to celebrate it together.
Because no matter how it is packaged, tobacco kills.
It remains one of the greatest public health threats of our time.
Tobacco kills over seven million people every year, and remains the single-most preventable cause of premature death.
No country in the world is left untouched.
New and emerging nicotine and tobacco products pose serious health threats, especially to children.
These products are part of a broader strategy by the tobacco industry to profit from addiction, disease and death.
The marketing is aggressive, the appeal of their products is strong, and regulation is often weak.
But our vigilance on new products must go hand-in-hand with intensified action on conventional tobacco products.
At the World Health Assembly last month, WHO’s Member States renewed their commitment to tackling noncommunicable diseases, including through the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September.
Tobacco control is central to that mission.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a powerful tool of international law, and the WHO MPOWER package that supports it offers a comprehensive package of evidence-based, cost-effective tools to implement it.
Since the FCTC came into force 20 years ago, smoking prevalence has dropped by one-third globally, and there are 300 million fewer smokers today than there would have been had prevalence remained the same.
More countries than ever are putting in place MPOWER measures at best practice level.
And fifty-six countries are on track to achieve a 30% relative reduction in tobacco use by this year.
The greatest gains have been made in developing countries, where despite aggressive industry interference, governments and civil society have demonstrated that change for the better is possible.
Yet challenges remain, as we all know.
For example, in the WHO European Region, tobacco use among women is the highest in the world, and is barely declining.
This raises important questions, including how the industry targets its marketing towards women, and what can be done about it.
And we have a powerful, well-resourced opponent.
The tobacco, nicotine and related industries continue to adapt, expand, and work to exploit every gap in our defences.
Dear colleagues and friends,
We have the tools. We have the evidence. We have global commitment, a powerful treaty, and strong partners around the world.
Let me leave you with three requests:
First, we ask all countries to commit to implementing at least one more MPOWER measure at best-practice level within the next year.
In particular, raising taxes on tobacco is a proven way to reduce tobacco use, while generating revenues to reinvest in health. And with official development assistance falling, taxation can raise domestic resources for health.
Second, we ask researchers to continue building the evidence base on the health impacts of new and emerging tobacco and nicotine products.
And third, we ask legislators and regulators to ban flavours and designs in vapes that are designed to attract children and young people.
Thank you all once again for your commitment, your leadership, and your partnership, as we work together for a healthier, safer and tobacco-free world.
Go raibh maith agat.
I thank you.