1. Introduction

Smoking is so common and feels so familiar, that it can be hard to grasp just how large the impact is. Every year, around 8 million people die prematurely as a result of smoking.1 This means that about one in seven deaths worldwide is due to smoking.2 million more live in poor health because of it.1

Smoking primarily contributes to early deaths through heart diseases and cancers. Globally, more than one in five cancer deaths are attributed to smoking. 2

1.1 The main conclusions of the WHO report on global trends in tobacco use from 2000 to 2025 are as follows

By 2020, 22.3% of the world’s population will use tobacco, including 36.7% of men and 7.8% of women. At present, 60 countries are expected to achieve the tobacco use reduction target by 2025. Since the last report two years ago, two other regions – Africa and South East Asia – have joined the Americas and are expected to achieve a 30 percent reduction. 3

1.2 Trends in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region

Pakistan is the only country in the region that is expected to achieve tobacco reduction targets. Four of the six countries with increased world tobacco use are located in the region.

2. Pakistan

I would like to focus on the tobacco problem in low-income countries in my blog: take Pakistan as an example.

2.1 Current situation of tobacco production

In 2018, Pakistan’s cigarette production increased by 32% year on year, decreased by 15% in 2019, decreased by 5% in 2020, and increased significantly by 16% in 2021. The such huge output reflects people’s increasing demand. In January 2022, the number will reach 5.6 billion tubes, with a year-on-year growth of 23%, gradually approaching the capacity of more than 6 billion tubes per month. Therefore, it is far from the goal of mass smoking cessation in Pakistan.

2.2 The drivers of the challenge

As a low-income country, Pakistan is a major tobacco producer and consumer in Asia. Its tobacco industry has also made an important contribution to the government’s financial accumulation. Tobacco consumption tax also accounts for a considerable proportion of the country’s total consumption tax. Purchasing tobacco is an important means to improve economic development. Therefore, the Finance Bureau is more willing to see citizens buy tobacco. Therefore, developing the economy in this way has led to a high smoking rate in Pakistan.

2.3 Efforts to quit smoking

In 2015, the Pakistan Civil Rights Organization launched a petition to the Supreme Court, hoping that the court would stop the Ministry of National Health Service Regulations and Cooperation from withdrawing a new regulation. It requires 85% of the tobacco packaging surface to be covered with horrible photos showing the health hazards of smoking, which is believed to effectively reduce tobacco use and save lives. However, the implementation of this new regulation has been delayed for several months, and the area of warning graphics is likely to shrink to 50%. The new regulations of 50% warning graphics after shrinking were made under the influence of the Federal Tax Office, which obviously did not pay attention to people’s health.

This legal action initiated by the Pakistan Tobacco Control Union aims to prevent the imminent shrinking of regulations and requires the ministers of health and finance of Pakistan to be responsible for the policy retrogression in protecting public health. Health warning graphics can effectively encourage smokers to quit smoking and prevent non-smokers from trying to smoke. Therefore, since Saira Afzal Tarar, the Minister of Health of Pakistan, announced the implementation of the 85% warning graphics policy in February this year, the tobacco industry has stepped up pressure to weaken the impact of the policy and delay its implementation.

The tobacco control experts from Union have cooperated with Pakistan since 2008 and provided legal and technical support for the Pakistan Tobacco Control Alliance. Pakistan is one of the countries with the most serious tobacco hazards in the world, with about 110000 people dying from tobacco-related diseases every year. 4

3. Potential solutions

It is clear that Pakistan’s tobacco companies have not done enough to warn people about the dangers of tobacco, and the government’s supervision needs to be strengthened. In my opinion, if excessive dependence on the tobacco industry brings economic benefits to the country, it will be in exchange for people’s health, which is undoubtedly a transaction with people’s life safety and money. Therefore, tobacco control is a very important factor in the development of a country. Everyone should pay attention to the harm of smoking and publicize the benefits of quitting smoking. In addition, we should also strengthen the protection of young people, which is a solid foundation for a country’s future.

Reference：

[1] Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2013) – “Smoking”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/smoking’ [Online Resource]

[2] The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2007). In The Federal Register / FIND (Vol. 72, Issue 29, p. 6735–). Federal Information & News Dispatch, LLC.

[3] World Health Organization (2019) WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2025, third edition.

Tobacco of Pakistan / Zijin Zhang / Global Health Challenges: An Introduction (2022-2023)[SEM1] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0