At the UN General Assembly in 2015, world leaders agreed on 17 SDGs, including one on health, as a means of ending poverty for all by 2030.

The WHO FCTC is explicitly identified as a means to achieve the SDG health goal because tobacco is a known driver of poverty, not only damaging to health, but also causing devastating social, economic, and environmental harms to the world. About 500,000 people in the ASEAN region are killed by tobacco every year. Tobacco use not only impoverishes the users but also burdens national economies with more than USD 10 billion in health care costs annually due to tobacco-related illnesses and premature deaths.

Effective tobacco control is essential to eliminate poverty, and accelerated implementation of the WHO FCTC should be included in each country’s development planning. The theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day, “Tobacco – a threat to development” is very relevant. For more information and resources, click this:http://www.who.int/campaigns/no-tobacco-day/2017/event/en/