American Public Health Association - World Federation of Public Health Associations - WFPHA Policy Resolutions - Global Tobacco Control

American Public Health Association - World Federation of Public Health Associations - WFPHA Policy Resolutions - Global Tobacco Control: "Global Tobacco Control

WFPHA Position Paper

With an estimated one-third of the world's population aged 15 and above smoking regularly, the negative health consequences of tobacco use are now reaching proportions of a devastating global epidemic. Tobacco, a known or probable cause of some 25 diseases, is responsible for one death every ten seconds worldwide, killing nearly 3.5 million people each year. Tobacco use today accounts for over 6% of all deaths in the world. These figures are rising rapidly, with a predicted 10 million deaths annually by the year 2025. It is expected that within the next century, tobacco use will take a greater claim on human health than any single disease. 1,2

Aside from threatening world health, tobacco also exhausts our environment and the global economy, hindering sustainable and equitable human development. It is a health, economic, environmental, social, and political problem, which calls for immediate, comprehensive action from all sectors and levels of society, including the international public health community. This position paper of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) describes the scope of the problem of tobacco use and lists some steps that should be taken by the international health community to address this critical global challenge.

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