FOR this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation’s Tobacco Free Initiative proposes that the focus be on tobacco and poverty.
Why? Tobacco is the fourth most common risk factor for disease worldwide. The economic costs of tobacco use are equally devastating. In addition to the high public health costs of treating tobacco-caused diseases, tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity, depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce. Tobacco users are also less productive while they are alive due to increased sickness. A 1994 report estimated that the use of tobacco resulted in an annual global net loss of US$200,000mil (RM760,000mil), a third of this loss being in developing countries.
