Progress in reducing tobacco use is a key indicator for measuring countries’ efforts to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – target 3.a under the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

The ninth WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, marks 15 years since the introduction of the MPOWER technical package which is designed to help countries implement the demand-reduction measures of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The world is confronted with a global food crisis fueled by conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, tobacco is grown in over 124 countries, taking up millions of hectares of fertile land that could be used to grow food, address food security and nutrition challenges and help feed families.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on July 21, 2022 has issued Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2022.

Progress in reducing tobacco use is a key indicator for measuring countries’ efforts to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – target 3.a under the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

In 2018 alone, over 3.5million hectares of land were harvested for tobacco. Tobacco growing is destroying our environment and threatening our health. As regulations tighten in middle- and high- income countries, tobacco companies are increasingly targeting African countries to scale-up tobacco leaf production.

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) was developed by the Tobacco-Free Initiative (TFI), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office on Smoking and Health of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with other countries representing the six WHO regions.

India accounts for nine per cent of all HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) deaths in the world, the second-highest number globally. Around 9,700 people die every year among TB-HIV co-infected patients, according to The India TB report 2020, that was released on June 24, 2020.

The WHO European Region is projected to miss its targets for tobacco-use reduction by 2025.