The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries in the South-East Asia Region to step up efforts to combat tobacco and e-cigarette use. Despite a significant decrease in tobacco consumption over the years, the Region still has the highest number of tobacco users globally, posing serious health risks such as cancer, respiratory, and heart diseases. Saima Wazed, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, emphasized the urgency to control both tobacco and e-cigarette use to protect public health and save lives.
While tobacco use in the WHO South-East Asia Region has declined from 68.9% in 2000 to approximately 43.7% in 2022, an estimated 411 million people in the Region still use tobacco. Additionally, the Region has 280 million smokeless tobacco users, accounting for nearly 77% of global smokeless tobacco users. Alarmingly, around 11 million adolescents aged 13-15 in the Region use tobacco, representing almost 30% of the global total for that age group.
The use of e-cigarettes is also rising, particularly among young people, with many countries reporting a significant increase in usage, including Thailand, where school-aged children aged 13 to 15 have seen a rise from 3.3% in 2015 to 17.6% in 2022. WHO emphasizes the need to counter the interference of tobacco and e-cigarette industries to protect the health of over 2 billion people in the Region.
Several countries in the Region, including DPR Korea, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste, have already banned e-cigarettes, while the Maldives regulates them as tobacco products. Despite challenges, countries like India and Nepal are expected to achieve the NCD 2025 target of at least a 30% reduction in tobacco use by 2025. Bangladesh has announced “Tobacco Free Bangladesh” by 2040, and India has initiated the ‘Tobacco Endgame.’
Efforts to combat tobacco use in the Region have shown progress, with significant declines observed among both men and women since 2000. The Region, along with the WHO African Region, is on track to achieve the NCD 2025 target. However, more assertive actions are needed to enforce tobacco control laws and policies, especially given the high interference of the tobacco industry. Countries in the Region continue to implement demand reduction strategies advocated by WHO, including the MPOWER package, to tackle tobacco consumption effectively.
