On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, May 31st, WHO Representative in Vietnam, Dr Lokky Wai, shared a monograph on the economics of tobacco and tobacco control in Vietnam.
WHO Representative in Vietnam, Dr Lokky Wai
Globally, more than 7 million people die from diseases caused by tobacco use every year, including hundreds of thousands from second hand smoke exposure. This is seven million too many, and yet still the number is rising. Every single death from tobacco is a preventable tragedy.
These deaths, and the suffering from diseases that tobacco causes, have wide reaching impacts on the health of individuals and their families, and on the prosperity of our communities. Further, tobacco curbs the development of nations. This is why the World Health Organization and partners have focused on the links between tobacco and development for World No Tobacco Day, on 31 May 2017.
The economics of tobacco is unavoidably a multisectoral issue, that must be tackled beyond the health sector, covering issues as broad as reducing poverty, building sustainable agricultural systems, environmental protection, international trade agreements, tackling the illicit flow of tobacco products and tax avoidance.
There is good reason to concern ourselves with the economics of tobacco. Worldwide, tobacco use costs more than US$ 1 trillion in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity each year. In Viet Namin 2011,tobacco use caused a loss of more than 24 600 billion VND (or more than 1.17billion USD) per year,which was equal to about 0.97% of country’s GDP. The loss included medical treatment costs and productivity loss due to diseases and premature deaths caused by tobacco smoking.
In low and middle income countries in particular, the burden from tobacco is only rising. In Vietnam NCD already caused 73% of total mortality in 2012, and tobacco was one of key risk factors leading to the rising NCD burden. Coping with tobacco related disease places strain and burden on the health system, causing hospital overload and rising treatment costs for NCD patients. A community that reduces its tobacco use is a healthier and more prosperous one.
At the beginning of 2017 WHO announced the publication of the monograph ‘The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control’, a collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It sets out in unprecedented detail the significant economic losses that are suffered by individuals, communities and health systems from tobacco use, as well as the substantial economic benefits that stand to be gained from controlling tobacco.
Tobacco is a unique product. It is uniquely harmful to its user compared to any other legal product. And the tobacco industry is alone in peddling such a uniquely harmful product for commercial gain.
The economics of tobacco control, in addition to the rather gloomy numbers and forecasts related to the huge financial burden on health systems and economies has showed that tobacco control can be good for both health and government tax revenue collection:when increase tobacco tax it will reduce smoking prevalence and at the same time it will increase government tax revenue collection. For example,if all countries raised cigarette taxes by about 80 cents per pack, the global tobacco use will reduce significantly while the annual tax revenues could increase by 47%, amounting to an additional US$140 billion per year.
The economics of tobacco control is not only the concern of those who use tobacco, nor is it only the concern of those who set policy. As the monograph demonstrates, the economics of tobacco control affects all of our daily lives, our communities and our economies. It is more than a health issue; it is a matter that should be taken seriously for the development and prosperity of our countries.
