A study has found that new tobacco control policies that have been implemented in 41 countries between 2007 and 2010 will save as many as 7.4 million premature deaths by 2050.
The study is the first to analyze the benefits of tobacco control policies since the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) was established in 2005. It reveals how implementation of simple policies can successfully save lives and pave the way for further such actions.
The study says that currently six million deaths are caused due to smoking each year. The World Health Organization narrowed down six most effective evidence-based tobacco control policies in 2008 and provided full support for their implementation
The policies named as "MPOWER" include some of the measures suggested by WHO FTC for reducing and preventing the use of tobacco. These are : monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, protecting people from tobacco smoke, offering support to quit smoking, warning people about the risks of tobacco, implementing bans on tobacco promotion, advertising and sponsorship, and increasing taxes on tobacco, according to the study.
For the study, researchers looked at 41 countries that had the tobacco control policies in effect. They found 33 countries had implemented one MPOWER policy, while eight had more than one measures in effect. The overall population of the represented countries added up to one billion, out of the 6.9 billion world population in 2008. Estimated smokers were 290 million in 2007.
"In addition to some 7.4 million lives saved, the tobacco control policies we examined can lead to other health benefits such as fewer adverse birth outcomes related to maternal smoking, including low birth weight, and reduced health-care costs and less loss of productivity due to less smoking-related disease," lead author David Levy, PhD, professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, said in a press release.
Douglas Bettcher, MD, director of the department of non-communicable diseases at WHO, estimates millions of additional lives can be saved if these measures are used widely.
The findings of the study are published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
