AFP, Abu Dhabi :
A global anti-tobacco conference that ended on Saturday urged countries to take steps to reduce the consumption of tobacco, which it said was a leading cause of disease and death worldwide.
In its final declaration, the 16th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Abu Dhabi also called for wider implementation of World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for cutting smoking rates and reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases.
The five-day conference, which declared that all tobacco products are harmful, said they “pose an especially heavy burden on low- and middle-income countries and should be de-normalised worldwide”.
It insisted that tobacco use, in all its forms, is a major contributor to the occurrence of non-communicable disease (NCDs), such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases.
Organisers warned that tobacco causes one in six of all NCD deaths and that almost half of current tobacco users will eventually die of tobacco-related disease.
And despite a decline in the number of smokers in many countries, more needs to be done to curb tobacco use to meet the global target of a 30 per cent reduction in consumption by 2025.
A global anti-tobacco conference that ended on Saturday urged countries to take steps to reduce the consumption of tobacco, which it said was a leading cause of disease and death worldwide.
In its final declaration, the 16th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Abu Dhabi also called for wider implementation of World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for cutting smoking rates and reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases.
The five-day conference, which declared that all tobacco products are harmful, said they “pose an especially heavy burden on low- and middle-income countries and should be de-normalised worldwide”.
It insisted that tobacco use, in all its forms, is a major contributor to the occurrence of non-communicable disease (NCDs), such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases.
Organisers warned that tobacco causes one in six of all NCD deaths and that almost half of current tobacco users will eventually die of tobacco-related disease.
And despite a decline in the number of smokers in many countries, more needs to be done to curb tobacco use to meet the global target of a 30 per cent reduction in consumption by 2025.
