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Russia urged to act immediately after release of new tobacco survey data

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

(New York, United States and Moscow, Russia) -World Lung Foundation today welcomed the release of new tobacco use survey data from the Russian government and urged immediate action to reduce demand for tobacco. The Global Survey of Adult Tobacco Use (GATS) is a rigorous population-based survey, which revealed that Russia has the highest prevalence of tobacco use among countries that have done such extensive research.

Peter Baldini, Chief Executive Officer, World Lung Foundation, said “We applaud the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development and the World Health Organization (WHO) for completing the most robust research on Russian tobacco use to-date. We can now begin to analyze the true magnitude of the tobacco epidemic in Russia.

“The news is sobering indeed: more than 60% of Russian men and more than 21% of women smoke. Almost 35% of Russians reported being exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke at work and more than 90% of people who visited a bar reported exposure. According to the report, nearly half of smokers are in their prime working years, making tobacco use a tremendous economic concern as well as a public health crisis.

“Important steps have been made recently, however, particularly the signing of the National Tobacco Control Strategic Concept in September, which outlines a broad commitment to health policies that will reduce the toll of tobacco. We strongly urge that the new survey data be used to set a baseline from which the new strategy can be evaluated. World Lung Foundation remains committed to supporting Russia and its partners to put such measures in place.”

GATS was conducted in Russia in 2009 via household surveys of men and women aged 15 and older. A total of 11,406 interviews were initiated with a response rate of 97.7%. The survey was conducted by the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), in collaboration with the Research Institute of Pulmonology, under the coordination of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The full GATS report and the key findings are available at: https://www.minzdravsoc.ru/. 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.