Tobacco control
-
Russia has high smoking rates and weak tobacco control policies. A simulation model is used to examine the effect of tobacco control policies on past and future smoking prevalence and premature mortality in Russia. ⋯ SimSmoke results highlight the relative contribution of policies to reducing the tobacco health burden in Russia. Significant inroads to reducing smoking prevalence and premature mortality can be achieved through strengthening tobacco control policies in line with FCTC recommendations.
-
Twelve-member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a free trade agreement to facilitate international trade and investment. As reported by multiple sources, the TPPA would grant the same trade benefits and legal protections to tobacco products, services and investments that it would provide to other sectors. Malaysia proposed excluding tobacco control measures from the scope of all TPPA chapters while the US proposed only to establish a consultation process in tobacco-related disputes and to declare that tobacco control measures serve a health objective within the scope of the general exceptions. ⋯ Five TPPA chapters pose the most significant threats to tobacco control measures: Investment, Regulatory Coherence, Services, Intellectual Property and Technical Barriers to Trade. Trade negotiators should expand safeguards to ensure that the TPPA does no harm. The most effective would be to exclude (carve out) tobacco control measures from the scope of all TPPA chapters, as Malaysia has proposed.
-
Comparative Study
Cross-country comparison of waterpipe use: nationally representative data from 13 low and middle-income countries from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).
Evidence shows that smoking tobacco using a waterpipe is significantly associated with diseases. Despite this, waterpipe use seems to be increasing worldwide, though nationally representative data are not widely available. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) provides an opportunity to measure various indicators of waterpipe use from nationally representative surveys. ⋯ GATS data provide the ability to analyse waterpipe use within a country and across countries. Monitoring of waterpipe use at a national level will better enable countries to target tobacco control interventions such as education campaigns about the negative health effects of waterpipe use.