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Comprehensive Tobacco Control Would Increase Likelihood of Countries Meeting Targets on TB Reduction

Note: World Lung Foundation united with The Union North America. From January 2016, the combined organization is known as “Vital Strategies.”

(March 24, 2015, New York, USA) – Today, to coincide with World TB Day, World Lung Foundation called on governments to implement comprehensive tobacco control laws to break the link between increased prevalence of smoking and increased prevalence of tuberculosis (TB). In addition, World Lung Foundation encouraged governments to adopt innovative methods to increase capacity within their health systems for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of TB.  

According to The Tobacco Atlas, most cases of TB occur in places where tobacco use is extremely common or rising rapidly. China and India, which both have high levels of tobacco use, account for 40% of all cases of tuberculosis in the world. As most patients with TB are relatively young, excess morbidity and mortality from tobacco-related tuberculosis takes a toll on persons in their most economically-productive years. The Atlas also notes that smoking is preventing countries from meeting Millennium Development Goals related to mortality associated with TB. It will be 2029 before any region (the Americas) meets its goal while smoking is still prevalent. In the Western Pacific and Africa, TB mortality goals will never be achieved while smoking is prevalent.

Dr Neil Schluger, Chief Scientific Officer, World Lung Foundation, commented:  “A great deal of focus, quite rightly, has fallen on the need for better diagnosis and treatment of TB, the search for new vaccines and drug treatments, and the alarming increase in cases of MDR-TB, all of which threatens to halt years of steady although too slow progress in reducing the global burden of tuberculosis.  

“Amidst these challenges, governments need to focus on what they can do to reduce the burden of TB, right now. There is a proven link between smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke and susceptibility to developing and dying from TB. In fact, a recent study showed that one-fifth of tuberculosis cases in adults were attributable to tobacco. This means that comprehensive tobacco control laws, including strong smoke-free laws, can play an important role in reducing the overall burden of TB.

“We also need to recognize that there is a real lack of public-sector specialist lung health doctors in many of the countries that are most burdened by TB. These experts have a vital role to play not just in diagnosing and treating current cases of TB, but also in advising colleagues and assisting in the development of public health initiatives to reduce future TB infection.  

“Our East Africa Training Initiative in Ethiopia – a country with the third-highest burden of TB in Africa and the eighth-highest burden of TB in the world – is an exemplar of how governments, hospitals, medical schools and international organizations can work together to develop sustainable lung heath care. This highly effective and cost-effective model could be replicated in other countries facing a high burden of TB. By increasing health care capacity and implementing tobacco control – proven and comparatively low-cost interventions – we can make a real difference in the fight against TB, starting today.”