Tobacco control in low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Tobacco use, primarily smoking, is the main cause of preventable death worldwide, leading to almost 6 million fatalities annually, with nearly 80% of the burden borne by low and middle-income countries. Various possible interventions to address this problem are explored, from implementing taxation and enforcing comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising to mounting mass media campaigns against tobacco use. Contributing to this are several organizations and foundations that fund tobacco control efforts, notably the Bloomberg and Gates foundations. Despite their significant contributions, funding for tobacco control is still regrettably less than that for HIV/AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis. The document further acknowledges an incomplete understanding of the likely returns of different intervention strategies and calls for additional research to explore cost-effective methods. – AI-generated abstract.