WHO/J. Zak
Policies to control tobacco use, including tobacco tax and price increases, can generate significant government revenues for health and development work, according to a new landmark global report from WHO and the US National Cancer Institute. Such measures can also greatly reduce tobacco use and protect people’s health from the world’s leading killers, such as cancers and heart disease.
But left unchecked, the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world’s economies more than US$ 1000 billion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, according to findings published in The economics of tobacco and tobacco control. Currently, around 6 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries.
The almost 700-page monograph examines existing evidence on two broad areas:
The economics of tobacco control, including tobacco use and growing, manufacturing and trade, taxes and prices, control policies and other interventions to reduce tobacco use and its consequences; and The economic implications of global tobacco control efforts.
"The economic impact of tobacco on countries, and the general public, is huge, as this new report shows," says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health. "The tobacco industry produces and markets products that kill millions of people prematurely, rob households of finances that could have been used for food and education, and impose immense healthcare costs on families, communities and countries."
Globally, there are 1.1 billion tobacco smokers aged 15 or older, with around 80% living in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 226 million smokers live in poverty.
The monograph, citing a 2016 study, states that annual excise revenues from cigarettes globally could increase by 47%, or US$ 140 billion, if all countries raised excise taxes by about US$ 0.80 per pack. Additionally, this tax increase would raise cigarette retail prices on average by 42%, leading to a 9% decline in smoking rates and up to 66 million fewer adult smokers.
Viet Nam: notable progress made but stronger action is needed
According to the Global Tobacco Adult Survey (GATS) 2015, Viet Nam has a very high rate of current smokers, with 45.3% of the adult males currently smoking, and there are a total of 15.6 million smokers in the country. In the past years, the government has made initial progress in tobacco control with the approval of the tobacco control law in 2012, which provided for the establishment of the Viet Nam Tobacco Control Fund. The Fund receives funding from compulsory contributions by the tobacco industry defined from 1% to 2% of the factory price of domestic produced or import price of the imported tobacco products. Various communication campaigns and other efforts to implement the tobacco control law have already brought in some encouraging results. The 2015 GATS survey showed that between 2010 and 2015 the smoking rate has declined among men in urban areas, from 47,4 to 42.4%, and second-hand tobacco smoke exposure has declined in all settings (home: 73.1% to 59.9%; workplace: 55.9% to 42.6%; and public transport: 34.4% to 19.4%).
Nevertheless, particularly in rural areas the number of adult smokers in the male population remains worryingly high. The health impact of tobacco use in Viet Nam is also evident in the large and increasing number of patients with respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancers across the country.
Besides the health impact, the economic consequences of tobacco-use related illnesses are also severe. A research published in a peer review journal showed that in 2011, the total direct and indirect costs caused by tobacco use in Viet Nam were more than 1.1 billion USD per year.
“We now have evidence to show how lives can be saved and economic costs can be reversed through implementing a set of proven measures, such as higher taxes and prices on tobacco products, implementing complete smoke-free environments as well as addressing tobacco marketing in public places”, says Dr. Lokky Wai, WHO Representative in Viet Nam. “I encourage Viet Nam to take stock of the results and recommendations provided in this report and to continue their work in making tobacco control a cross-sectorial effort and using effective financing mechanisms and evidence-based interventions to reduce the adverse effect of tobacco on the population’s health and on the country’s economy”, Dr. Wai emphasizes.
The monograph’s major conclusions can be found in the flyer (enclosed).
Tobacco control is a key component of WHO’s global response to the epidemic of NCDs, primarily cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and diabetes. NCDs account for the deaths of around 16 million people prematurely (before their 70th birthdays) every year. Reducing tobacco use plays a major role in global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030.