WHO Says Tobacco Consumption Kill 8 Million Individual Yearly
The tobacco pandemic, which kills more than eight million people worldwide each year, including Nigerians, is one of the worst public health issues the world has ever faced, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This was said by Matshidiso Moeti, regional director for WHO Africa, in her statement honoring the annual May 31 “World No Tobacco Day.”
The organization, according to Ms. Moeti, joined the rest of the world to observe the day under the slogan “Grow food, not tobacco.”
According to the WHO representative, the topic was to inform tobacco farmers about alternative crop production and marketing prospects and inspire them to produce nutrient-dense, sustainable crops.
She claims that the topic also aims to highlight the tobacco industry’s tactics to obstruct efforts to replace tobacco farming with sustainable crops, aggravating the world food crisis.
It urges everyone to look into how food and agricultural policy may provide access to sufficient amounts of nutrient-dense food and healthy diets while lowering tobacco production, she said.
She claims that there is an increase in Africa.
For instance, Ms. Moeti pointed out that the number of adult smokers climbed from an estimated 64 million in the WHO African area in 2000 to 73 million in 2018.
Strong marketing campaigns by the tobacco industry and increased manufacture of tobacco products, she added, are additional contributing causes.
Articles 17 and 18 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) should be implemented more quickly, Ms. Moeti urged the African countries that produce tobacco.
She claims that this may be accomplished by passing laws, creating and putting into practice appropriate policies and tactics, and creating the market circumstances necessary for tobacco producers to switch to growing food crops.
The WHO head continued by saying that doing so will improve the quality of life for their families while also improving environmental and public health protection.
By taking such action, Ms. Moeti added, “we will be growing food, which our populations need, not tobacco.”
