Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”
(New York, NY) – World Lung Foundation today welcomed the publication of Global Adult Tobacco Survey data in India. The survey is conducted to a rigorous global standard and tracks tobacco use, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and tobacco control measures across a number of different countries.
Peter Baldini, Chief Executive Officer and President of World Lung Foundation commented: “World Lung Foundation congratulates CDC, the International Institute for Population Sciences and the Indian Government's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the release of GATS data. India now joins Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and several other countries in establishing a true scientific baseline for the tobacco epidemic.
These data are critical for evaluating current policy in a country where over one million people still die of a tobacco-related disease each year. The research is especially noteworthy in India, with its myriad languages, ethnicities and tremendous social complexity. Understanding how the population uses tobacco and responds to public policies will help the government and our partners develop more effective measures over the coming years. We remain committed to working in India to reduce the health and economic toll tobacco takes.”
Monitoring tobacco use is a key provision of the World Health Organization's package of MPOWER strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. MPOWER strategies are endorsed and promoted by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, of which World Lung Foundation is a principal partner.