By: PAHO/WHO PAHO/WHO’s

Office for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries urges countries to raise taxes on tobacco

Bridgetown, Barbados, May 28th, 2014 — The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s Office for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries (PAHO/WHO OECC) is urging countries to raise taxes on tobacco products as a strategy to reduce tobacco use and associated levels of illness and death. This call comes as PAHO/WHO and partners spearhead the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day 2014, slated for Saturday May 31.

Tobacco use is known to be responsible for about 10 % of adult deaths worldwide. In numerical terms this amount to more than five million deaths each year, largely the result of   tobacco’s contribution to higher rates of heart disease, stroke, lung disease, and some cancers. Research confirms that tobacco use in the Eastern Caribbean ranges from about 7 % to about 20 % of adult populations.

Of great concern is the fact that tobacco use in the region is considerably higher among teenagers as compared to adults, with usage rates of 16 % to 28 % having been established for secondary school students in the 13 to 15 year age range. It is against this background and with the Caribbean being listed among regions most severely affected by the global epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus, that PAHO/WHO recommends that efforts to control tobacco use should remain a priority.

Tobacco control expertise has demonstrated that higher taxes can be effective in reducing tobacco use, especially among lower-income persons and adolescents. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a tax increase which pushes up tobacco prices by as little as 10 % can reduce tobacco consumption by about 4 % in a high-income country and by about 8 % in most low or middle-income countries. Moreover, the World Health Report of 2010 suggests that a 50 % increase in tobacco taxes could potentially generate more than US$ 1.4 billion in funds in 22 low-income countries. This report concludes that if these funds were allocated to health, the government’s health budgets in some countries could be increased by as much as 50 %.

The World No Tobacco Day 2014 campaign supports implementation of Article 6 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) which recommends the use of price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco. The FCTC is the world’s first public health treaty and has so far been signed by 178 countries.

The main goal of the convention is to guide countries in protecting their citizens and residents from the harmful effects of tobacco by establishing ground rules to govern tobacco production, sale, distribution, advertisement, and taxation. The FCTC’s status update of March 2014 lists the Eastern Caribbean states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines among the 168 countries that have both signed and ratified the convention.

Founded in 1902, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is the world’s oldest international public health agency and the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO)

See also iNews related story published May 27 2014 “World No Tobacco Day is May 31: Cayman Minister says tobacco kills 10% adult deaths” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/world-no-tobacco-day-is-may-31-cayman-minister-says-tobacco-kills-10-adult-deaths/