ROSEAU, Dominica – The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Carissa Etienne is calling on the Dominica government to enact legislation regarding tobacco use as well as increase taxation on tobacco products.
The Dominican-born PAHO official said the World Health Organization (WHO) has had in the past introduced the Convention on Tobacco Control “and many countries have signed up to that convention."
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO It is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health.
It is a legally binding treaty that requires countries bound by the treaty, or Parties, to implement evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.
She said that in addition to signing the convention, Dominica needs to enact legislation.
“Tobacco is the highest risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases (NDCs). But not just for that (it is) also for respiratory illness among many others. We need to bring some control over tobacco.”
She said from her experience in Dominica, while there are not too many tobacco smokers “but we must enact legislation to ensure there is no smoking in public places, no smoking where other people can inhale smoke and that we increase the taxation on tobacco imports”.
Earlier, the WHO reported that the region of the Americas, including the Caribbean, recorded the steepest decline in tobacco use.
The WHO reported that the number of tobacco users continues to decrease globally, going from 1.32 billion in 2015 to 1.30 billion last year.
According to the fourth WHO global tobacco trends report released on Tuesday that number is expected to continue to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025.
It said 60 countries are now on track to achieving the voluntary global target of a 30 per cent per cent reduction by 2025, an increase from two years ago, when only 32 countries were on course.
According to WHO, tobacco kills more than eight million people annually, over seven million of whom die as a direct result of smoking tobacco while around 1.2 million others from second-hand smoke.
The report noted that contributing US$1.68 per capita each year to national toll-free quit lines, SMS-based support, and other interventions could help 152 million tobacco users successfully quit by 2030.
