Research Project

Accelerating Progress on Tobacco Taxes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Research Area(s): Global Health; Health Policy
Funding Source: Bloomberg Foundation

Abstract

The tobacco epidemic is killing more than seven million people every year, mostly in developing countries. If left unchecked, tobacco use will kill more than one billion people this century. The 4-year, $420 million Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use is working to implement proven tobacco control policies around the world. It aims to reduce the global demand for tobacco through a comprehensive, proven approach that combines policy change with increased public awareness. In the U.S., teen smoking has declined by more than 80% in less than 20 years (2000-2020). However, a dramatic increase in e-cigarette use among teens threatens to undermine this progress – since being introduced to the market in 2011, e-cigarette use among teens has skyrocketed to one-fifth of all teens. To reverse the global tobacco epidemic, the Bloomberg Initiative (BI) supports adoption of the MPOWER interventions, all of which are proven to be effective: 1. Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies 2. Protect people from tobacco smoke 3. Offer help to quit tobacco use 4. Warn about the dangers of tobacco 5. Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship 6. Raise taxes on tobacco BI also supports work to expose tobacco industry wrong-doing and to draw attention to the tobacco industry’s tactics. Our work on U/S. e-cigarette use addresses this new dimension of the epidemic by supporting passage of bans on tobacco flavors, which are a key reason that teens use these products. The ten countries with scaled-up interventions are: Bangladesh Brazil China India Indonesia Mexico Pakistan Philippines Ukraine Vietnam