The World Health Organization suggests that approximately 5 million people die every year in the world because of tobacco use. Further, the report argues that, “the use of tobacco may cause about one billion deaths in the 21st century if current trends continue” (World Health Organization, " Research for International Tobacco Control, 2008, p.26). This social issue has contributed to the rise of several organizations worldwide such as the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) that work to advance tobacco control efforts. The society's mission is to end the global tobacco epidemic through advocating for innovative legal as well as policy measures (Action on Smoking and Health, 2013).
People smoke for different reasons. For instance, while others are due to addiction caused by the nicotine, others do it as a way of coping with certain emotions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In the United States, tobacco adverts preferentially target the low-income areas, racial minorities, as well as the LGBTQI, thus increasing their chances of smoking (World Health Organization, " Research for International Tobacco Control, 2008). The actions taken by ASH are not limited to a particular specific area. The Organization tackles the tobacco issue through global best practices that continue to drive down tobacco use prevalence. Further, the society aims at introducing regulations such as scaling up tobacco taxation that would help at reducing the consumption of tobacco.
Despite the unparalleled effort of the organization, it still faces some challenges in the attempt to impede the regulations of tobacco. For instance, in some countries such as Egypt, there are scarce smoke-free policies. The tobacco sector has employed some practices to derail the efforts to control tobacco. On its part, ASH is working with international, national, as well as sub-national communities that control tobacco to reduce tobacco use. Moreover, society has implemented cost-effective measures and forms part of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that would help reduce the use of tobacco.
References
Action on Smoking and Health. (2013). Smoking statistics: Who smokes and how much.
World Health Organization, " Research for International Tobacco Control. (2008). WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2008: the MPOWER package. World Health Organization.
